


division

by kairoscleroticminds



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angels, Betrayal, Dreamies Growing Up, Elemental Magic, Elves, Fairies, Fallen Angels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Immortality, M/M, Mages, Mermaids, Princes, Rivalry, Sirens, kings - Freeform, picking sides
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2019-10-26 00:03:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 44,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17735201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kairoscleroticminds/pseuds/kairoscleroticminds
Summary: one world, three realms. within each realm holds different types of creatures that all live in harmony...until a prophecy arises, ultimately causing conflict between everyone.





	1. introduction

**Author's Note:**

> sorry if the summary is a little vague but tbh it’s hard to explain this story without spoiling everything so just check it out!  
> this story is going to be in different povs (i’ll try to include everyone’s povs) and it’s probably going to be pretty long bc it has plots within plots and a whole lot of drama!
> 
> if you’re interested in fantasy, then i hope you like this! knowing me, this will be pretty tragic but don’t worry, that won’t happen until later (i’ll give y’all a heads up) ;)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> welcome to neo!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a lil intro since i created this world and this whole ‘realms’ concept, just so you all aren’t too confused! i hope it wasn’t too complicated but let me know if you have any questions!

neo is a world full of wonders, from its beautiful atmosphere, to its magnificent creatures living within all the realms...three realms, in fact.  


**azure, the golden realm of skies**

there is a realm called azure, the realm of the skies. a realm where one can see its beauty and openness by simply looking up. in azure, you could live on moving clouds and sleep in homes built from gold, and even more clouds. you could glide over this glorious realm in fascination of its scenery all the time, but only if you had wings of course; and that's what everyone who lives in azure has. if you seek to live in a realm full of luxury and peace, the realm of skies is the perfect choice. 

azure is a realm home by elegant angels who control the weather with their voices and could live for as long as they wanted, bathed under the sun in eternal peace. even though angels are thought to be peaceful, they can be very possessive when it comes to superiority; they're also not afraid to show it, especially angels born from royalty. 

it can also be hard to argue with them because they have brains bigger than their egos. in fact, azurian angels are best known for being the authors of the majority of significant historical books known to neo. without the azurians' obsession to keep traditions and records, the other realms would be quite forgetful of a lot of things. 

it's always best to respect all angels and to never underestimate anything they do. it may seem like a simple task to do but when it comes to an angel's unique yet peculiar way of communicating with different creatures, it can take awhile to gain their trust. it isn't hard to get on their good side though...as long as they are taken seriously. 

current inhabitants are prince kim dongyoung, guardian moon taeil, and xiao dejun. 

**brine, the silver realm of seas**

the realm of brine is quite known as the most dangerous realm, for it contains unknown wonders when one looks further passed the local parts. even its inhabitants haven't discovered all of it yet, but that's what makes it more intriguing. this realm, is the wondrous realm of brine. 

as expected, breathing underwater is a necessity of being able to live in brine; whether it's obtaining gills or getting kissed by a local mermaid or merman, which gives the temporary ability to do so. and once you're able to breathe, you'll be able to see brine; where its kingdom's walls are firmly made of sand and shell. and if one is daring enough, they could explore further on where not only are the waters treacherous but so are the legendary creatures lurking in the depths. 

the realm of brine, is surely only explored by those who contain bravery and adventure in their hearts, and of course, a desire to swim freely through the endless waters. mermaids, mermen, and, even rarer, sirens inhabit brine. the inhabitants of brine are probably the most courageous out of all of neo and are kind companions to all, never failing to keep the energy as high as possible. a considerable weakness that they have would be giving their trust away too quickly and easily, and are highly sensitive when it comes to disloyalty. they can also be trusted to protect others from their own realm, even though it can be hard for them to protect themselves. they still manage to enjoy their lives with ease nonetheless. 

current inhabitants are prince jung yoonoh, seo youngho, dong sicheng, wong yukhei, and liu yangyang. 

**terra, the bronze realm of land**

and the last realm, is where the majority of neo live. dry land in neo, where the creatures with legs roam, is the realm of terra. it isn't as open as azure or as intricate as brine, but terra is so simple that perhaps, it is preferred for those with gentle mindsets. terra is where no violence or cruelty is allowed, but rather, the bonding of nature, fauna and flora alike. homes are built up in the trees for both mammals and humane creatures, and they both don't mind living together in harmony. 

in terra, inhabitants are expected to treat everyone and everything with respect. one may not easily belong if they are too carefree though, because the inhabitants expect everyone to also take care of the whole environment. 

elves, nymphs, fairies, and other gentle creatures live in terra. and as a reward for their peace, they are able to do many magical things from healing, to other great powers in order to protect the nature around them. even though they look timid, never look down on them, for their hands can do more than grow flowers. get on their good side, and they'll share all of neo nature with you, with sweet smiles and warms hearts. 

current inhabitants are prince lee taeyong, guardian qian kun, guardian jungwoo, lee youngheum, wong hendery, guardian nakamoto yuta. 

residents in the neo castle, located in terra, are prince zhong chenle, lee minhyung, huang renjun, lee jeno, lee donghyuck, na jaemin, and park jisung. 

and...is there a chance you don't belong to any realm? well, of course, if you aren't as wise as an angel or as adventurous as a mermaid or as caring as an elf...but there is no other realm. 

it's best to say that...you have to make yourself fit into a realm. otherwise, well, the **kruptos** is an option. a dead realm that was once filled with misfits who lived in pure isolation somewhere in the terra realm until they were forced to convert to the other realms. misfits who live in pure darkness but held great power within the palms of their hands, and most memorable, against the morals of the king. 

however...that is just a legend and no one knows if it still exists or if their people still exist. so yes, it's best to adapt into azure, brine, or terra. respectively. 

usually, you are born into whichever realm your previous soul once lived in, but it is common to be realm-less, and without soul. and if you are a said 'orphan,' you are born with no specific identity but rather, a convertible gene, meaning you are able to turn into any creature you want, as long as you are willing to 'train' and educate yourself about the specific realm and creature. 

this is the case for seven young orphans named, lee minhyung, huang renjun, lee jeno, lee donghyuck, na jaemin, zhong chenle, and park jisung. 

they've all been living together in terra, at the neo castle all their lives. now that they're coming of age, they can now select which realm they can live in, as well as what creature they want to convert to. 

which realm would suit each of them best? will there be any complications?


	2. realm-less

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lee minhyung: realm-less  
>  _the ‘orphans’ at the neo castle start preparations for their conversion_

###  _middle of summer, before the conversion_

minhyung was finally coming of age which meant he had the opportunity to finally 'convert.' 

the conversion was approaching, giving him the opportunity to live in another realm and to actually become...someone. but the thought honestly stressed him, because he didn't even know which realm to choose. he couldn't admit it aloud though, especially not in front of most of his friends who knew where they were headed to after the conversion. 

minhyung was the oldest of the set of orphans participating in this year's conversion, meaning, he would be the first to fully convert. however, he was aware that he still had a lot of time for preparation because the conversion ceremony always occurred at the end of the summer of every year. 

and as for his current form of preparing...it was merely just observing what his friends were doing. 

minhyung laid on his bed, blankly staring at the ceiling as his friends na jaemin, lee jeno, and huang renjun sat on the floor of his room studying for the ceremony. 

"so..." minhyung spoke up to break the silence. "how have you guys been holding up?" 

"ehhh, i don't know..." jaemin, a pretty boy with pink hair yawned, resting his head on the shoulder of his best friend jeno. they shared a big brown book the size of a person's lap labeled _the history of terra_. "how are we holding up, jeno?" 

" _i'm_ holding up just fine." jeno, a white-haired boy, glanced at jaemin and purposely moved his shoulder to make jaemin fall back. "this book is actually pretty interesting, i don't understand why you're getting bored of it." 

"it's not that. it's just that we've read it like three times this week." jaemin folded his arms behind his head and leaned on the wall. "and i'm waiting for jun to give me the azure one." 

the remaining boy, renjun, had chocolate brown hair with a tiny streak of white which made it obvious to minhyung what realm he chose. 

"hm?" renjun looked up at jaemin. "oh yeah sure, i was finished with it like an hour ago. here." 

renjun handed the book to jaemin and stood up. "wanna do me a favor and make a feather for me, jeno?" 

jeno looked at renjun uneasily for some reason. "a f-feather? uh...i don't know...my magic isn't that good right now." 

"it's okay, jeno-ah, i'll do it." jaemin assured jeno. he put his hands in front of him and casually said a spell. "ecce angelus est pinnis." 

almost instantly, a feather the color of a cloud appeared in jaemin's hands. it was obviously an angel feather, not one of the rare ones, but it was still just as pretty. he blew the feather towards renjun and the older boy casually caught it. 

"still don't understand why you don't want to be an elf when that was literal proof that you're capable, jaemin." minhyung pointed out. 

practicing magic seemed to come naturally for jaemin even though he just started learning a few days ago, so it had to be some sort of sign. minhyung also thought about being an elf himself, but memorizing spells was too hard for him to do. 

elves, the most common inhabitants of the terra realm, were the only creatures who could use magic, excluding fairies and angels who only had healing abilities. elves were pretty powerful but they would only ever use magic for simple tasks, protection and...nature preservation, of course. 

"no thanks, we've been on terra for too long." jaemin replied as he opened the history of azure book. "i wanna see what the other realms have, y'know?" 

it was true that they all have been in terra for so long. even though they've grown up in the neo castle and haven't exactly stepped outside or into the neo forest, where every terra inhabitant lives, minhyung was pretty tired of being on land in general. 

"then why did you even learn how to spell cast?" renjun scoffed as he stretched his arm upwards, raising the feather above his head. 

renjun simply stared at the feather, and when he put his arm down, it stayed floating, as if there was no gravity. 

he probably expected a reaction from what he did, but minhyung wasn't surprised at all. he knew an intelligent kid like renjun could easily make an angel feather levitate within seconds. 

"because spell casting seemed fun to learn." jaemin shrugged. "mind you, the only fun thing you can do in the terra realm. and in the neo forest... _plain_." 

that comment caused jeno to glare at jaemin immediately and minhyung couldn't help but snicker. "hey jeno...what was the realm you wanted to join again?" 

"terra." jeno answered, still looking at jaemin. " _in the neo forest_." 

jaemin started to laugh nervously. "ah c'mon jeno, by 'the only fun thing you can do,' i meant that the other things you can do are even more fascinating! and by plain i was talking about...the beautiful green plains of grass— _renjun, help me_." 

renjun shook his head, with his eyes still glued to the sparkly angel feather. "can't help you there, buddy...azure is _way_ better." 

"oh really?" jeno closed his book, glaring at his other best friend now. "elaborate, please." 

"well for starters, it's way more peaceful than terra." renjun answered. "and everything up there is so luxurious and just...clean." 

the azure realm was also nicknamed _heaven_ , and you were only allowed to go there if you were an angel or had wings. also, the clouds had 'minds' of their own, so if you had a hint of 'negative' energy in your body or you just didn't have any real business being there, you'd sink through and fall...to your death. very terrifying to minhyung, but renjun didn't seem intimidated at all. 

"you're saying that like you've been there." jeno scoffed. 

"there's illustrations in the book for a reason." renjun playfully rolled his eyes. "oh wait, i'm guessing you've still had your eyes on that dusty old terra book. you know, you'd think the azurians would update it but maybe it's a sign that it's really that boring." 

both jaemin and mark gaped at renjun in amusement. he really would put azure on a pedestal like there was no tomorrow. 

jeno furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms. "you know, maybe azure deserves you, junie...all of them are so frickin' _stuck up there_." 

" _literally_..." minhyung joked, which caused all of them to laugh, immediately breaking away any tension. 

as they all stopped laughing, a new person appeared in the doorway of minhyung's room, yelling...as expected. 

"wow, you guys are laughing and having fun without me, huh?" lee donghyuck, minhyung's best friend, pouted at the others. 

"i wish." minhyung snickered. "we're just trying to relieve ourselves from the conversion stress." 

"stress? why is there stress?" hyuck raised an eyebrow as he sat at the edge of minhyung's bed. 

"don't know what mark's talking about, i'm having a good time." renjun smirked as he started moving the feather swiftly around him just by eyeing the spots of where he wanted the feather to go. 

"a good time moving a little feather with your eyes? weirdo." donghyuck replied, causing mark to laugh. 

lee donghyuck had been mark's best friend since they were raised in the neo castle their whole lives. he had grown up with all the boys, but hyuck was the boy who always seemed to latch onto him with his bubbly personality. 

even though they were close, mark couldn't even stir up the courage to tell hyuck that he was having trouble with the conversion. he didn't even know what realm hyuck wanted to be in; the younger boy was never one to prepare for something anyway, even if it was something serious like the conversion. 

renjun sulked in his stance and grabbed the floating feather, pouting. "it's not weird...i'm supposed to be doing this." 

"we really have to do that?" hyuck questioned, making a weird face. 

_he said 'we'...did that mean hyuck wanted to live in azure too?_ mark never really imagined that from him, but perhaps hyuck really was starting to take things seriously. 

"it's to get a feel of what the wings will be like and to test your sense of concentration and balance when flying." renjun grinned proudly at his own explanation, pushing his thin-rimmed glasses more towards his face. 

"when do they even grow?" jeno asked, looking up from his book. 

"hm, well, they _should_ be growing right now..." renjun thoughtfully mumbled, then immediately started taking off his shirt. "do you guys see anything?" 

on the top of renjun's back (specifically on his cervical vertebra) were two parallel slits in his skin. mark expected to see red in the slits but instead of natural realm-less blood, there was glittery gold liquid, but no feathers coming out. was renjun already changing from the inside? 

"geez, it looks like it hurts." jaemin winced, slowly putting the shiny golden azure book down, as if hesitating to look into the sky realm. 

"kinda...but it'll be worth it." renjun grinned enthusiastically. 

meanwhile, donghyuck was dumbly flustered, dramatically covering his eyes. 

"put your shirt back on, we're nearly adults, weirdo!" 

"which makes it more acceptable, _weirdo_." renjun rolled his eyes as he put his shirt back on. 

hyuck put his hand down. "o-oh really? in that case, mark take off your shirt." 

"what? why me?" minhyung widened his eyes. 

jaemin started laughing at hyuck, leaving mark still confused, but then he answered for the orange-haired boy. "he's saying that because we want you to show off your wings, duh." 

"oh..." mark sat up. "wait—you guys think i’m gonna be an angel?" 

"were you not?" jeno tilted his head in confusion. 

mark was flattered his friends saw him as a potential angel, since those creatures were considered 'superior,' but he couldn't lie and say it was his initial dream to become one. 

"i actually..." this was mark's moment to just say it. "i haven't picked a realm yet." 

"oh is that so?" renjun crossed his arms and grinned in amusement. "the almighty lee minhyung hasn't decided on a realm yet?" 

huang renjun was the second oldest in the group and mark was aware he always tried to act like the most 'mature,' trying to be the leader of the group even though mark never even considered himself one. he didn't mind flattering renjun though, perhaps he agreed that the younger boy should've been the 'better example.' 

"oh shut up, renjun, it takes a lot of thought." donghyuck defended mark, but then he turned to him and whispered. " _but seriously, i didn't learn how to sing soprano for you to not pick azure, dude_." 

mark simply shrugged his shoulders. 

he only mentioned that living in azure would be 'cool' once, but he didn't expect hyuck to take that as an official answer. and was hyuck implying that he only picked azure because of _him_? he didn't know their friendship took those kind of measures. 

just as mark opened his mouth to defend himself, two new boys walked in. they looked very gloomy and distressed, but once the boys in the room turned to look at them, they produced fixed smiles. 

"hey guys, what's up?" the youngest boy of the friend group, park jisung, spoke up. 

"mark hasn't picked a realm yet." jaemin immediately said, with a smirk on his face. 

"oh." jisung widened his eyes. "that's uh...not good." 

"geez, why are you guys treating it like such a big deal?" mark rubbed the back of his neck. 

"because _you guys_ only have a month to prepare." the green-haired boy who walked in with jisung answered. "and, you're the oldest so you're supposed to be setting the example." 

mark noticed zhong chenle didn't include himself in the first statement. was the young prince not going to convert with them this year? he didn't want to bring it up though, so he just replied to him. 

"i guess..." mark muttered, then he frowned. "but i can't be the _only_ one who's undecided now, come on guys—" 

"azure." renjun smiled with confidence. 

"terra." jeno mumbled, his eyes still planted on the terra book. 

jaemin nodded. "the realm of terra!" 

renjun's jaw dropped at jaemin's answer. "but you just said you didn't want to—" 

"it's called _a change of heart_ , junie." jaemin dramatically placed his hand on his chest. "you still know what a heart is, right?" 

at that joke, renjun sent the feather flying right into jaemin's mouth. jaemin immediately made a disgusted sound and pulled the wet feather out of his mouth, pouting at renjun. 

mark looked at the two younger boys standing. "what about you two?" 

jisung looked at chenle. chenle simply shrugged, and jisung averted his eyes. _what was up with those two?_

jisung mumbled. "we're...staying at terra." 

"ah, i always saw you two as little elf boys, cute!" jaemin grinned. 

chenle playfully rolled his eyes at that comment, while jisung silently blushed. 

"honestly, minhyung, if you don't really care what realm you want to be in, just try brine." renjun shrugged. "the guys over there are just as careless." 

jaemin and jeno started snickering, causing renjun to laugh too. "what? i love sicheng but it's true!" 

"ya, renjun, keep dissing other realms like that and the clouds will be sure to reject you." chenle scolded at his older friend. 

renjun immediately stopped laughing because he knew the prince was right. he cleared his throat. "right...sorry...your highness." 

renjun bowed at chenle a little too low. chenle smiled at the dramatic gesture which caused jeno and jaemin to laugh even more. 

mark was considering brine...but mostly because of his huge admiration for the prince, jung jaehyun. other than that, he was actually pretty scared of living in water since there was so much unknown territory. maybe he would choose azure...jaehyun was very fond of angels after all. 

as mark finished his thought, donghyuck turned to him. 

"just letting you know...i'm going to whichever realm you're choosing." hyuck smiled. his sudden statement caused mark's heart to skip a beat for some reason. 

"but, why?" mark raised an eyebrow. 

"tsk, you didn't think our friendship contract ended right when we converted, did you?" the orange-haired boy joked. "and besides, i don't think i could ever survive in any realm without your...guidance." 

"oh please, you're more flexible with environments than i am." mark laughed. "but fine...i guess that means i'm stuck with you forever." 

hyuck grinned and put his hand out towards mark. "whether you like it or not." 

mark clasped his hand with hyuck's and they shook on it. the decision on a realm was still unknown to him though, but he knew he was close to choosing the right one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so obviously, i'm starting with a dreamie arc and it's gonna be a couple of chapters until the older members are actually involved with the story...imma hope yall arent anti-dream or anything soo ya better enjoy it.
> 
> also the dreamie arc is very important to the latter plot! there are a shit load of foreshadowing (especially in this chapter) so pls try your best to pay attention to details if ya wanna solve some plot later heh byee


	3. reasons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pov of park jisung: realm-less, terra bound  
>  _worries about his best friend prince arises_

###  _one week later, three more weeks until the conversion_

it seemed to be very early in the morning when park jisung was awoken by a familiar voice. he shifted to his other side and saw his roommate zhong chenle sitting upright on his bed. 

even though chenle was the neo prince, he had always shared a room with jisung, because he never liked being alone. it was always...difficult for jisung to sleep in the same room as chenle though, because chenle was a peculiar person, more special than royalty, in fact. 

prince chenle always moved and talked in his sleep, but jisung noticed he had been doing it more frequently this summer. 

"chenle...you okay?" jisung whispered at the older boy. 

as expected, the green-haired prince continued to mutter things, as if he didn't hear jisung. " _...doesn't make sense...no...not real..._ " 

jisung sighed and got up, walking towards chenle's bed. he sat at the edge, right in front of the older boy. chenle's eyes were closed, and he looked like he was meditating. 

"hey, lele." jisung spoke up again but with his normal voice. 

this time, chenle slightly winced. his eyebrows furrowed inwards as if he didn't want jisung to interrupt. _oops_. 

jisung decided to take that as a hint, so he stayed quiet. 

chenle started to mutter again. " _yes...no...why...it's not true..._ " 

then all of a sudden, chenle started wringing his hands together stressfully. 

jisung widened his eyes. that had to be a bad sign. "uh...lele?" 

" _stop...can't make me...shut up!_ " chenle growled as he started to aggressively scratch his hand. jisung was afraid that he would hurt himself so he couldn't stay quiet. 

"your majesty!" jisung exclaimed, grabbing chenle's hands. 

instantly, chenle's eyes opened wide and he had a shocked expression on his face. he breathed heavily and looked at jisung. "w-what?" 

"you were...muttering stuff again." the younger boy replied. 

chenle looked down and noticed jisung holding his hands tightly. he gently pulled away. 

the prince sighed. "i'm...i'm fine, thanks for waking me." 

jisung was never convinced with that kind of response, especially since it was coming from a special boy like chenle. 

chenle had very rare powers. he had the ability to talk to people with his mind and he could also see visions of the past and future. his visions were a key tool to all realms which was mostly the reason why he was appointed as a prince of neo. however, he could only see visions through his right eye, which was _purely blind_. 

apparently from chenle, only seeing visions through one eye made a huge difference, but jisung never understood how it did. 

nonetheless, jisung always thought chenle's blind eye made him look cool and it was especially fascinating whenever it changed colors. most of the time, it would be a pure sparkling gold just like the color of angels' blood, which jisung thought was pretty, but whenever chenle had a bad vision, it would change to a color more...unpleasant. 

chenle noticed jisung staring at his blind eye. "...w-what color is it now?" 

jisung cleared his throat nervously. "it's... _black_." 

the pure black sclera eye always terrified jisung, but he would never fully show his distaste towards his best friend. 

chenle sighed. "fun." 

the prince reached for his bronze terra crown that was sitting on his nightstand. it was a magnificent-looking crown, despite it's main purpose of looking like branches...or thorns? the special touch was that it had diamonds embedded in every bend of a branch. 

he set it on his green head and adjusted it so the thorns of the crown that stretched downwards covered his blind eye. it was basically a crown and an eye patch at the same time, and jisung always thought it looked awesome, despite chenle being insecure about it. 

"you've been getting more black eyes lately, ever since the season changed." jisung stood up and looked at his best friend with concern. "is there something i should worry about?" 

"as the best friend of the neo prince?" chenle stood up as well, adjusting his white long-sleeved blouse. he looked at jisung casually, as if he didn't just have a nightmare vision. "nope." 

jisung crossed his arms. "and as the best friend of... _chenle?_ " 

usually the black eye would've went back to gold by then, but through the small peek-holes of the thorns, jisung noticed it was still black. in addition, chenle averted his eyes for a split second. 

before jisung could say anything, chenle cleared his throat. "...same answer. now let's go, i want to arrive earlier than the guys." 

it was obvious chenle was hiding something, but jisung was too timid to confront him about it, so instead, he followed the prince out of their room. 

"what are we doing today anyway?" jisung asked as they walked through one of the many hallways of the neo castle. despite it being too early in the morning, there were already other orphan kids running around with playful energy. 

"you guys are gonna be introduced to the mentor of this year's conversion and he's basically gonna be checking in on you all like progress reports about once a week. it’s just to make sure you've actually been learning about your dream realm or whatever." chenle answered. 

"you make it sound like you're not a part of it." jisung replied. 

jisung knew that chenle had always been involved with the conversion ceremonies ever since he was little, because he was the prince, of course. however, it was never settled whether he would ever get converted himself, once he came of age. 

even though he was the prince of neo, he didn't belong to any realm and he wasn't classified as anyone other than being an ‘oracle.’ plus, jisung expected chenle to join this time...for him. he knew chenle was always more than ready to anyway, because he was the wisest in the group when it came to neo history, even wiser than renjun. 

"no point in actually being a part of the progress reports." chenle scoffed. "i mean, i am converting with you, jisung, but you know i'll still be living here, not in the neo forest." 

the prince had boundaries as expected, which bummed jisung out a lot. the conversion basically meant nothing to chenle then, because he couldn't go anywhere outside the castle. 

"it sucks, i know." chenle noticed jisung's expression. then he smiled. "but i'm glad you want to stay in terra. it means you'll get to visit the castle all the time." 

jisung smiled back. "you bet." 

the two boys entered the throne room which was also the main entrance room of the whole castle. jisung sat at the steps leading to the thrones, while chenle walked up the steps and sat on one of thrones. there were two thrones, a white marble throne and a smaller obsidian one beside it which was chenle's. 

jisung gestured towards the empty marble throne. "where is he anyway? isn't he supposed to be here for this too?" 

the owner of the white marble throne was king sol, the current ruler of neo and the said 'leader' of all the realms. 

"who really knows these days?" chenle shrugged. "he hasn't talked to me in awhile...probably orbiting the sun or whatnot." 

chenle wasn't related to sol at all but sol raised chenle like a little brother. their relationship wasn't really brotherly as years passed though, for sol barely warmed up his own throne nowadays. 

as jisung amusingly imagined the king literally orbiting the sun on a pegasus, the five other boys walked into the throne room. 

"ohoho, haven't seen you sitting there in awhile, huh, lele?" huang renjun grinned, squinting while cleaning his glasses with his shirt. 

"almost looks like you're growing out of it." lee donghyuck added, as he ruffled jisung's hair and sat right beside him. 

"silence, peasants." chenle playfully rolled his eyes as the others laughed, sitting down on the steps. 

jisung always thought chenle was cool letting the older boys joke around with him despite his royal position. he made everyone feel like friends playing a fun game of pretend, and jisung really appreciated it. 

"so chenle, do you know who our mentor is gonna be?" the white-haired boy, lee jeno asked. 

"nope, it's traditionally always a surprise." chenle yawned, propping his elbow on the arm of the throne and resting his head casually. "pretty sure someone just gets chosen last minute though." 

"clever!" renjun clapped his hands together. 

"or lazy." na jaemin snickered. 

"okay but either way, a prince or guardian usually gets chosen right?" jisung spoke up. chenle nodded. 

"i hope it's prince jaehyun." lee minhyung quickly suggested with a big smile on his face. "that guy is really...really cool." 

"he already did it last year, but you overslept, remember?" lee jeno replied, causing mark to sulk. 

"wouldn't hurt him to do it again..." 

"it would. he would dry up." hyuck joked. 

the others started cackling but mark frowned. "not funny, hyuck..." 

"i hope it's guardian jungwoo, i haven't seen that guy in years." jaemin spoke up. jisung nodded, remembering what a fun guy kim jungwoo was to hang out with when they were younger. 

"yeah, okay, nana, if you want a flower crown arts-and-crafts session." jeno snickered. 

jaemin pouted. "who do _you_ want then, huh?" 

"you guys always anticipate the dull ones." renjun interrupted before jeno could speak. "it's prince dongyoung. it has to be." 

jeno grinned and pointed at renjun. "aha, something i can finally agree on! he has never mentored for the conversion before." 

"you guys have a _stupid crush_ on him that's why." jaemin crossed his arms. "and he hasn't done it because he has better things to do." 

"jaemin's probably right." chenle pointed out, with his eyes completely shut. it was obvious that he didn’t get much sleep and jisung was lowkey worried. 

"dongyoung? prince of azure?" hyuck spoke up. 

jisung remembered hyuck reading to the boys a bit about dongyoung towards the last pages of the azure history book...until he got bored and skipped the whole section completely. hyuck claimed the dude seemed boring. 

"the handsomest creature to ever live on neo." renjun cutely hugged himself. 

"and the toughest and wisest angel in history." jeno added, high-fiving with the other fanboy. 

"the handsomest in neo? you guys act like you haven't seen _me_ before." jaemin put his hand on his chest. his best friends immediately started glaring at him causing the pink-haired boy to sulk. 

"anyway," chenle groggily sat up as if waking from a short nap. "whoever it is, you guys better act in your best behavior or sol won't be pleased—" 

right as the prince said that, the huge front double doors of the castle opened. as the light from the outside shined on all of them, jisung clenched his fists in anticipation. he also noticed renjun and jeno literally holding each other with huge grins and tried his best not to laugh. 

jisung squinted at the light and saw the silhouette of one person walking towards them. they all decided to stand up as the doors closed, shutting the light out again to reveal... 

ten the elf. 

"oh. it's just ten." renjun spoke with obvious disappointment. all the boys sat back down. 

"ouch, that hurt, junie." the new arrival dramatically held his chest. 

ten looked up at prince chenle seated on his obsidian thorne, and bowed. "your majesty." 

"hi ten." chenle smiled kindly and waved. the other boys awkwardly followed his example. 

this definitely wasn't the first time jisung or any of the boys had seen ten in the castle. he was practically one of the only people they'd seen frequently from any realm, because he was sort of the right hand elf to king sol. other than that, he was also the most skilled with magic in all of terra and always loved using it. jisung admired him for that. 

"so...did they just pick you last minute?" hyuck spoke up. "no offense." 

"none taken." ten laughed. "but no, don't worry, sol would never let me be a mentor...it was actually supposed to be taeyong but...well—" 

"he didn't want to come with you." jaemin answered for the elf, trying his best not to laugh. 

elves always had some kind of drama, and this year was definitely drama between lee taeyong and ten. jisung was never aware of the details though, gossip from any realm barely reached the neo castle, or him at least. 

"yeah...perhaps there was a bit of a struggle..." ten rubbed the back of his neck and then enthusiastically clapped his hands together. "but forget that! i'm pretty sure this newly appointed mentor will fit your guys' liking." 

"jaehyun of brine?" mark asked with urgency. 

ten shook his head. "oof i wish." 

"the flora guardian, jungwoo?" jaemin spoke up. 

"ew, sweetie, i wouldn't be here if it was—" 

"guys, can you just let the surprise happen, please?" chenle interrupted before anyone else popped up more guesses. they all stood in silence, but with unshaken anticipation. 

"now let me just..." ten cleared his throat and cracked his knuckles. he looked up to the ceiling. everyone else did as well, and of course, renjun and jeno were moving anxiously because it was now obvious which realm the mentor was coming from. 

ten raised his right hand up to the castle's circular skyline, which was covered in extravagant stained glass of historic neo events including all three realms. 

he turned his palm upwards and casted a spell. " _aperire caelum_." 

"damn that's a hard spell to do—" jaemin mumbled but before he could continue, renjun and jeno both put their hands on his face. 

"SH!" 

jaemin pushed their hands away and rolled his eyes. 

suddenly each stained piece of glass started to lift away from each other, exposing the bright blue sky above completely. 

"ten, i hope you know how to piece everything back..." chenle said, but he had his mouth gaped open because the sight of colored glass floating looked amazing. 

"of course, your highness." ten casually swatted his hand at chenle. then he said another spell. " _natat manere_." 

each shard of glass stayed floating at the sides of the open skyline, glistening like fluorescent gems. 

" _aaand_ , now we wait." ten sighed. "he has a bit of a busy schedule, mind you." 

at that comment, renjun and jeno looked at each other in complete glee. 

jaemin rolled his eyes. "oh please..." 

"lighten up, will you, jaem?" mark laughed. 

jisung nudged mark and whispered. " _it's jealousy_." 

"not!" jaemin quickly turned to jisung. " _not_ , that stupid, ugly word." 

jisung and mark started laughing at the pink-haired boy getting flustered, as renjun and jeno continued to fanboy. 

"how do i look?" jeno looked at renjun. 

"dude, you're cool! ugh, i wish i had my white hair already." renjun pouted. 

"ya know!" jaemin interrupted his best friends and stood up. "i wasn't going to say it because i care truly about you two...but i'm gonna say it. dongyoung's with jaehyun again." 

renjun, jeno, and even mark, all exclaimed at the same time. "WHAT?" 

hyuck leaned towards jisung and muttered. "geez is this what crushing on older men looks like?" 

jisung shrugged. "can't relate..." 

renjun stood up and frowned at jaemin. "you're lying." 

"oh junie, i wouldn't." jaemin gasped. 

ten walked up next to jaemin while looking intently at his nails. "he's not." 

other than being the strongest in magic, ten was also the strongest in gossiping. 

"so my reason for training to be an angel still stands..." mark mumbled with determination. 

hyuck turned to his best friend. "wait—you want to become an angel because of _them_? to spy on a couple you don't even know personally?" 

before mark could respond, a loud groan was heard, coming from the obsidian throne. 

"you guys are so immature." chenle, the second youngest boy of the group, rubbed his forehead stressfully. "and y'all wonder why sol held you guys back a year i swear..." 

the boys looked down at their feet with slight embarrassment. it was true that king sol wasn't a fan of the boys as a whole group, for they were a little too carefree together. 

jisung fiddled with his hands and spoke up. "m-maybe we should rethink our reasons for choosing our dream realms? reasons that actually make sense? do our conversion next summer—" 

"not a chance." renjun scoffed at that suggestion, but then he looked at the other boys with a serious expression. "you guys know i've always dreamed about being an angel. yeah, i'll admit prince dongyoung has a huge influence on that but...i'm not gonna be on the clouds solely because i want to be around him. it's more than that." 

jisung nodded at the older boy with a smile. he definitely respected renjun more now. 

mark also nodded. "yeah i agree with renjun. it's not just because of the couple...or i would've been dreaming about being an angel a long time ago." 

he looked at hyuck, who was just staring at him waiting for more of an answer. 

mark sighed. "i guess, i want to be an angel because i want to prove myself that i can reach that high up...literally and figuratively." 

hyuck nodded, grinning. "okay...then i'm still with you, dude." 

"but why?" chenle suddenly asked, obviously intrigued with the sudden seriousness of the group. 

donghyuck looked at the prince. "because...he's my best friend?" 

chenle frowned and sat up in his throne. "that's not a good enough reason, hyuck. you would be willing to live in a completely different realm, just for someone else?" 

"i don't like the negative vibes you’re bringing in, lele." jaemin spoke up. na jaemin was always known for speaking informally towards chenle, or anyone really, which always got him into pretty risky situations. "you're implying it's not okay to join a realm to be with someone you care about...just let him be." 

chenle cocked his head to the side curiously, and for some reason it intimidated jisung. "what? is that also your reason to join terra, jaemin?" 

"mhm. my only dream." jaemin confidently crossed his arms. 

"wait...are you doing it for me, nana?" jeno widened his eyes at his best friend. _took him long enough to realize_. 

jaemin sweetly smiled at the white-haired boy and repeated his saying. " _my only dream_." 

jeno remained wide-eyed at jaemin, while renjun put his arms around the two boys. "my besties are gonna be cute lil elves!" 

while the rest of the boys bonded more after the sweet ending of a deep conversation, jisung was nervously wringing his hands together. 

that was when he decided to look up at the obsidian throne and saw chenle staring at the older boys in...disappointment. it didn't take long before chenle locked eyes with jisung, causing jisung to stop fiddling with his hands immediately. 

suddenly the sounds around jisung became quieter and he could hear chenle's voice in his head. _what's your reason, sungie?_

chenle was looking at jisung straight into his eyes. his blind eye was still pure black. 

jisung knew what answer chenle was looking for, but it wasn't his answer. he was glad chenle couldn’t read minds. 

although, it wasn't entirely jisung's fault to have the same answer as donghyuck and jaemin, was it? was it really his fault that, being the youngest, all he wanted to do was be in the same realm as his best friend? to the prince of neo, it probably was. 

so jisung remained silent. 

the silence was cut short, fortunately, by ten. 

"ah! finally, he arrives!" ten exclaimed, looking up at the castle skyline. 

jisung was the first to break the eye contact, and thankfully chenle didn't seem fully offended because he looked up as well. 

there was a sudden ray of light shooting down from the skyline, which was the perfect entrance of an angel. 

renjun and jeno were found grinning once again, as all the boys respectively stood up. 

"wow." mark breathed out in awe. "i can't wait to make an entrance like that all the time." 

"yeah, if you want to blind people." hyuck replied, covering his eyes from the brightness. 

"what do you think he's wearing?" jeno mumbled. 

and of course, they were back to their normal state. 

"a tunic?" renjun answered. 

"do you think he's coming from the old age?" jaemin joked. 

"it wasn't a dumb guess." renjun frowned. "angels like to keep tradition—" 

" _ahem!_ " ten interrupted before another argument sparked. 

renjun and jaemin looked down in silence. 

ten looked up at the skyline once again, and his expression brightened. 

"dreamers, introducing your mentor for the glorious ceremony of conversion." 

the boys looked up once again, and immediately jisung's heart jumped. the ray of light was currently blocked by a huge silhouette. it was huge because, as expected, the person flying down had wings spanning at least six feet wide from each side. even though it was expected, jisung was still stunned by the sight of it. 

"...y'all i'm gonna cry." renjun's voice wavered. jisung silently agreed. they've never seen an angel before, in less than two decades of them living. _unbelievable._

finally the dark silhouette reached the ground with a soft thud, landing with one knee on the floor and his head completely down. 

no one could see his face but his figure was already so fascinating to look at. it was because he was literally a glowing white figure from head to toe, except for his wings which were already retracted. the wings, like a folding dressing screen, closed on him, shielding him. each feather was completely white and sparkling at different moments. jisung had never seen such clean feathers even from the whitest of swans perusing outside the neo castle. 

"damn..." ten grinned at the angel, obviously checking him out, since he could see what the mentor actually looked like from his angle. 

"ten." chenle said. 

ten cleared his throat. "sorry! haven't seen an angel in awhile. but okay, ready for your introduction? or maybe...give me a warm greeting first?" 

the elf smirked at him. that's when one of the angel's wings lowered while the other covered more of his face so it was evident the angel was now facing ten. 

he seemed to be mouthing words to ten because after a few moments of silence, ten widened his eyes. "shit...okay _okay_ , you didn't need to say _that_ , i'm doing it..." 

the lowered wing covered half of the angel's body once again, as ten cleared his throat. 

"introducing your guys' mentor of the ceremony of conversion..." 

ten turned towards the angel and bowed. the elf grinned once again as the angel stood up. 

"the golden prince of skies, guardian and archangel of neo, appointed by king sol himself..." 

the wings spread out once again, completely revealing their mentor. all of the boys gaped, even chenle who had already seen a good amount of angels. 

the prince of azure stood tall with his hands in the pockets of his white slacks. no smile on his face, if anything it was just a simple glare that slightly scared jisung. 

ten stood up straight and casually crossed his arms. "introducing, prince kim dongyoung of azure."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that’s my BABY  
> not to be biased or anything but uh...doyoung’s character is probably my favorite in this story bye


	4. dreamers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lee donghyuck: realm-less, azure bound  
>  _discussing dream realms with the prince of azure...while also messing with him. not a good idea._

"introducing, prince kim dongyoung of azure." 

prince dongyoung just stood in front of the boys, with his hands in the pockets of his white high-waisted dress pants. the angel was also wearing a white glittery long-sleeved turtleneck with a white silk blazer over it. donghyuck wondered if it was cold up there...he didn't like the cold. 

then ten started yelling out of nowhere. he appeared to be looking at the windows of the adjacent wall, where the dorms were at. younger orphans were looking through, gawking at the angel prince. 

hyuck remembered when he and the boys also used to peek when they were younger out of curiosity for what they would have to do in the future. and now it was finally happening to them. 

"nothing to see here, children! your time will come." ten waved his hand at the dorm windows. " _prope nexu simili coherebunt!_ " 

hyuck thought the elf started cussing at the kids but it was just a spell to close all the curtains of the windows. 

"anyway..." ten rolled his eyes and gestured towards dongyoung. the boys looked at the angel once again. 

the prince was subtly glaring at all of them, and it already gave hyuck the impression that he was not someone to mess with...which made hyuck even more curious to mess with him. 

there was a sudden silence right after ten introduced him, and it was a bit awkward...then renjun and jeno made it even more awkward by falling to the floor. 

for a second, hyuck thought they both just fainted, but they were actually just bowing down to dongyoung on their hands and knees, which was just as amusing. 

hyuck almost stifled a laugh until the rest of the boys started to bow as well, not on the floor like the two older boys, but just with their torsos. he quickly followed their example. everyone was now bowing to the angel, except jaemin, chenle, and ten. 

dongyoung noticed this immediately and widened his eyes, adjusting his golden thin-rimmed glasses. "oh yikes. uh—there's no need to do that, though i appreciate the respect." 

the boys quickly straightened up, confused. 

"oh! uh sorry, your highness, we thought we had to—" renjun sprang up from the floor, embarrassed, as he pulled jeno up along with him. he pushed up his glasses as well...and that's when donghyuck noticed they literally had the same type of glasses. scary. 

"you're only supposed to bow at the prince on the current realm you're on." jaemin coolly answered, smirking at renjun. "tsk—c'mon, junieee, i thought you knew these things." 

renjun and jeno both glared at their teasing pink-haired best friend. hyuck was expecting renjun to cuss at him like he usually did, but instead, he slowly turned around towards prince chenle, which was a more mature move. _lame._

renjun bowed at the younger boy. "my apologies, prince chenle of neo, perhaps i was just—caught up in the moment..." 

the other boys had thoughts of laughing at renjun as usual, but they all also apologetically bowed to chenle. 

"it's fine...happens all the time." chenle casually swatted the air. 

they all turned back to see dongyoung bowing to chenle, as well. 

it was more surprising than weird for hyuck to see a guy way older than chenle bow to him, but he guessed it was more normal than he thought because no one reacted. 

"good morning, little prince." prince dongyoung stood up straight and smiled at chenle sweetly. 

_so this dude_ does _know how to smile,_ haechan thought. _that's comforting, i guess._

and apparently, azurian angels were known for having crazy charm and good looks that easily made people fall head over heels for them. hyuck guessed he saw it in dongyoung and renjun, definitely saw it in himself...but it made him think about mark. yup, he saw it in mark way more. 

"hi, doyoung." chenle smiled back. "haven't seen you in awhile." 

"half a decade, i believe...you have matured well." doyoung nodded and looked around the castle. "this place has looked better though." 

"have you, like...been staying in the sky the whole time?" the youngest park jisung, asked, dumbfounded. 

"oh no, of course not." doyoung laughed. "i've visited the neo forest a couple of times during those years, but king sol never really needed to invite me to the castle so yeah..." 

doyoung awkwardly clapped his hands together. then he looked at ten, as if waiting for instructions. _...he really was chosen as a mentor last minute._

hyuck also thought it was weird for the supposed 'golden guardian of neo' to be this awkward around younger people, but according to the azure history book, doyoung's soul was like, really old and that made a difference, apparently. 

ten raised his eyebrows at the angel. "did you...want to start with their introductions or something?" 

"oh, right!" doyoung exclaimed. this caused renjun and jeno to giggle for some reason. the angel nervously cleared his throat and focused on the boys again. 

"so...as youngheum said, i am the prince of azure. i've been guardian of neo for awhile now, which means i make sure all realms are harmoniously in check with each other." doyoung explained. "usually the guardian of neo is a superior title given to an angel, because well, angels are the wisest when it comes to traditions and such—" 

"where's your crown?" donghyuck couldn't help to blurt out, but he was genuinely curious. 

the angel didn't seem taken back though, despite hyuck's interruption being kind of rude. he just stared at the younger boy. 

"...i usually hide it because it's kind of my halo...it only appears in azure." doyoung explained. "but i can summon it on other realms when i feel it necessary—" 

" _oh come onnnn_ , show it." hyuck playfully whined, causing doyoung to look at him funny, which was expected. mature people were always caught off guard with how comfortable (weird was a better word) hyuck acted towards everyone. 

the angel noticed the other boys' expressions and no doubt renjun and jeno were grinning at him with anticipation, agreeing to hyuck's request. 

"i haven't seen it in awhile." chenle added. 

dongyoung nodded at the prince. "very well..." 

hyuck expected the angel to do some cool move to activate the halo but instead, the prince stood still. he raised his right hand and casually laced his fingers through his hair. he left his hand raised above his head and with a snap of his fingers, he chanted. " _princeps aureola_." 

suddenly the halo appeared glowing and blinding the boys for a second. doyoung used his thumb and first finger to feel the rim of the halo from right to left and as he did, liquid gold started rising from the halo, creating the sharp edges of a crown. the final product was just a regular gold glowing crown but perhaps hyuck was still impressed with the transformation. 

most of the boys started clapping in amazement, so he followed as well. however, he could see jaemin trying his best not to roll his eyes, while renjun and jeno were clapping a little too quickly and enthusiastically. it was scaring hyuck. 

"so i guess, with that little showy introduction," the angel prince shyly admitted, "i'll just let you guys introduce yourselves with your names and your dream realms...also a valid reason of why you want to live there, of course." 

donghyuck cussed in his head. a valid reason? other than just...wanting to be with mark? 

luckily, hyuck was pretty good at winging, like, everything. 

the angel prince gestured towards the far left, at renjun. "you can start first, huang renjun." 

the boy with the tiny streak of white in his hair widened his eyes. "oh—y-you know my name?" _oh no, please don't cry._ hyuck thought. 

"of course." doyoung smiled. "king sol has told me a lot about you and your constant hard work and commitment towards learning about azure since you were a kid. i'm very impressed." 

renjun gaped at the angel prince, his idol. then he looked at all his friends. hyuck decided to encourage him by giving him a thumbs up. 

immediately renjun turned back to doyoung and bowed deeply at him, causing hyuck to facepalm. 

renjun stood straight right away and started stuttering. "oh shoot—sorry! i mean—thank you, sir. i'm huang renjun, and like you said, i've always wanted to be in azure...an angel! in fact, i was hoping to be guardian of neo...i mean, if you were ever to step down, of course." 

basically a little future dongyoung...hyuck felt that coming and he wasn't sure if it was entirely a good thing. 

"and i'd be happy to teach you my ways." doyoung answered, satisfactorily crossing his arms. renjun responded with a huge grin. 

the angel looked at the next orphan, lee jeno. 

jeno also mistakenly bowed at his crush, but it seemed like he didn't care if it was wrong. he smiled with his signature eye-smile, which was his way of making people like him easily; and it usually worked...jaemin currently gawking at him was physical proof of that. 

"hello, your majesty. i'm lee jeno and i wish to commit to the terra realm as an elf, because i am quite fond of the history and nature of the neo forest. i am also fond with the idea of living in a realm that is in the middle of the other two, so i can connect with everyone else." 

hyuck had to admit...that introduction was the lamest thing he has ever heard from jeno, but then at the same time, jeno was pretty lame. his white hair was an exception though...hyuck really liked his white hair. 

it seemed that doyoung also took jeno's introduction the wrong way because he furrowed his eyebrows. "the terra realm? i'm confused with your choice, lee jeno." 

jeno stopped smiling for a second, but then he laughed it off and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "i'm...confused with why _you're_ confused, sir." 

hyuck silently agreed. _were azurians this prideful when it came to wanting everyone to be like them?_

it seemed like jaemin also had that thought because he crossed his arms. "with all do respect, is there something wrong with joining another realm that's...not azure?" 

_well yikes, he didn't have to say it like that._ hyuck thought. 

luckily, doyoung didn't get offended, but he did lock eyes with jaemin and it slightly intimidated hyuck. 

"of course not." doyoung simply answered, then he looked at jeno. "i was just confused because...well, your hair color made me think you were already striving to be an angel." 

"do all angels have white hair?" minhyung asked curiously. 

hyuck looked at his best friend's hair and noticed there was no sign of white, compared to renjun's. hyuck didn't have any white hair either. it was probably because they haven't trained as intensely as renjun. 

"precisely." doyoung nodded at mark. then the boys all looked at doyoung's hair...which was a raven black color. doyoung probably expected their confusion so he added. "you're allowed to dye it after the full transformation, of course." 

jeno looked down shyly. "i'm sorry to disappoint you, dongyoung...but i was born with white hair. i've only ever been training to become an elf." 

"strange..." doyoung tilted his head to the side, but then he nodded understandably. "but not impossible, i guess. it's okay, jeno, i respect your decision nonetheless. i hope terra accepts you with an open mind despite your... _angelic features._ " 

jeno gave his crush a small smile, but for some reason, hyuck had a feeling the white-haired boy was having second thoughts on being an elf now. 

"he'll make a name for himself no matter how _blinding_ his hair will become, there's no doubt about it." jaemin spoke up with an obvious defensive tone in his voice, yet an innocent smile on his face. 

hyuck had to laugh at his little joke, and mark and jisung followed his example. jaemin never failed to stand up for jeno somehow, even if jeno never noticed it; he was just staring at the floor in thought. 

doyoung noticed though, which again, was risky in jaemin's part; yet...once again, the prince acted as if he didn't care. it made hyuck weirdly amused, as if he also wanted to act the same as jaemin, just to see if an angel like doyoung could get pissed. 

"so i'm assuming it's _your_ turn now then...you are?" doyoung smiled. 

_okay this guy is good,_ hyuck thought, _this is why he's a prince...and from azure._

it seemed like doyoung's tone added more to jaemin's sass and it did...because jaemin smiled wider and intentionally bowed at doyoung. 

"hello, prince of azure." jaemin was still bowing as he looked up at the angel. who knew a pretty face would be able to cause weird tension amongst everyone? 

_he's been hanging out with jungwoo secretly, it's too obvious._ donghyuck knew for sure. 

jaemin stood straight again and intentionally ignored renjun's current aggressive glares at him. 

"i...am...na jaemin, the fifth orphan of this year's conversion." jaemin slowly explained, causing hyuck to grin in amusement. "and as you can see, by the color of my hair _obviously_ , i am very much destined to be part of the terra realm." 

renjun looked away, rubbing his forehead stressfully, while jeno was now glaring. 

_you guys are so freaking childish, i hate..._

chenle's voice echoed in hyuck's voice but he pretended to not hear. they had to have some type of fun, and of course, it was messing with older people. 

"oh? is that so?" doyoung raised an eyebrow at jaemin's explanation. 

hyuck had a feeling what was coming next and he was hoping to see if it would faze jaemin. 

"well, na jaemin, you know interesting gossip goes around in the neo forest, and well...last time i visited, i remember prince taeyong expressing his disappointment towards a 'na jaemin' of not wanting to be on the realm of land anymore, because it was...'boring.' surely, it _has_ to be more than your hair color that changed your mind about terra, am i right?" 

the angel's response made hyuck's heart jump, and it seemed like everyone else had that reaction, even jaemin himself. renjun was merely smirking, as if siding with the angel. 

the pink-haired boy stayed silent, then he crossed his arms and opened his mouth to speak. it took another few seconds for him to actually talk, and he ended up stuttering...a lot. 

"well...well i—um...i mean, o-of course, it's only a part of the reason for me changing my mind." jaemin managed. 

hyuck hoped he wouldn't state his actual reason—which was being with jeno—or else he would lose this battle. 

"continue." doyoung gave the younger boy a simple smile. hyuck couldn't believe renjun and jeno idolized this guy, but at the same time, it made so much sense. 

the corners of jaemin's mouth curved upwards once again, implying that he thought of something. "it didn't just change my mind, you see...i've grown fond of nature because of my peers who are also terra bound." 

_okay, good answer, keep going._ hyuck silently encouraged his friend. _sassiness is not a good idea at this point—_

"so not just a change of mind, but a _change of heart_ , your majesty! i mean...you do know what a hea—" 

jaemin choked up immediately. 

he was so close to taking the wrong turn and the boys knew it because they all grew wide-eyed. 

if there was one thing anyone knew about azurian angels...it was the known fact that none of them had a heart. indeed, they were known for having the wisest souls...but no hearts whatsoever. and it was definitely not a thing they were proud of, which was rare, obviously. 

but thankfully, the pink-haired boy stopped himself, probably remembering he wasn't talking to renjun, but someone with a higher position. 

he mumbled the rest of his response. " _yeah...it was...just a change of heart..._ " 

jaemin sat down on the steps, acknowledging his defeat, which was way better than being obliterated or whatever angels did with people who insulted them. it was nice to see that the younger boy was respectful to some degree, which hyuck appreciated...to some degree. if it was personally up to hyuck, he would've been totally down to risk it. _why not?_

"okay then." doyoung simply nodded at jaemin, with a wider smile which obviously meant he knew of his victory. "i'll be sure to let taeyong know about the great news—" 

"ooh! i can do it!" ten immediately exclaimed, nearly causing the boys a heart attack because they honestly forgot the elf was still there. 

"youngheum, you don't have to. actually, you really shouldn't—" before doyoung could even say more, ten was already running towards the front doors. 

the angel sighed and shook his head but continued to go to the next introduction, which was the youngest orphan of the group. 

park jisung innocently waved at the angel. "hi mr. dongyoung, i'm park jisung and i want to stay in terra because i've always considered this realm as a home, and i'm willing to stay here forever." 

"ahh, good for you." doyoung smiled, and it seemed genuine because his wings swiftly moved up and down as if they had a mind of their own. "so you wish to stay at the neo castle by prince chenle's side?" 

the question caused jisung to widen his eyes in surprise, and he grinned. "oh! wow, i would love to—" 

"he can't." chenle immediately interrupted his best friend, which took all the boys by surprise. 

chenle stared at doyoung almost intensely and hyuck noticed his gaze flicker to jisung at one point. "he's not some kind of... _assistant_ of mine or anything—so it doesn't make sense. he's living in the forest like every elf is supposed to." 

silence washed over everyone in the room. jisung's smile immediately disappeared and hyuck and jaemin weren't afraid to show their distaste for chenle's response by frowning. 

kim dongyoung was the first to break the silence. 

"oh wow, well...i guess you're not wrong, my prince." doyoung scoffed. "but, of course, it doesn't hurt to have him around if you want." 

the boys turned to the angel and were genuinely surprised, especially hyuck. 

_he's defending jisung...but for what?_

the angel continued. "i mean—when i was a young prince like you, i practically made sure prince jaehyun was by my side in the sky kingdom all the time or else i would've been bored for eternity." 

_for his boyfriend,_ hyuck concluded. 

however, he was surprised to know that jaehyun was an angel...and now a prince of brine? interesting. 

jisung gave the azurian prince a small smile, silently thanking him for his encouragement. unfortunately, his best friend had the opposite reaction and was frowning instead. 

"times have...obviously changed, doyoung." chenle mumbled. "royalty is more emphasized...surely you're aware." 

doyoung looked at chenle, and it was obvious to hyuck that he was disappointed in the younger boy's mindset, which was probably the only thing hyuck would ever agree with him on. 

nonetheless, doyoung pretended to understand and nodded. "of course...my opinions are nothing against yours, your majesty." 

then the angel put his focus back on jisung as if nothing happened. "i trust you'll do great things as an elf, park jisung." 

jisung sighed but managed to force a smile. "my intentions are always true, sir." 

dongyoung moved onto the next orphan, lee minhyung. but before mark even got to open his mouth, doyoung spoke up again. 

"ah, lee minhyung! i've heard a lot about you." doyoung clapped his hands and smiled at hyuck's best friend. 

mark's eyes widened. "oh shoot—uh, really? i didn't know sol talked about me like that..." 

everyone was aware sol's favorite was renjun, even if none of them ever admitted it. 

"oh, i don't know about sol...but namjoon used to tell me a lot about your potential." dongyoung answered. 

namjoon made more sense; he was the previous neo king before sol who had his _conveyance_ nearly a decade ago. since he was an angel before he became king, doyoung was probably really close to him. 

"oh, namjoon! wow, how is he?" mark grinned. namjoon was like an older brother to him, joon even liked hyuck so hyuck also appreciated him as king. 

"hm...he hasn't really talked to me in awhile, now that i think about it..." dongyoung furrowed his eyebrows. 

everyone knew that before a king's conveyance ceremony, where a king officially steps down and leaves neo, they had a choice to choose one person to talk to from limbo; basically combining their soul into your soul. it was a huge honor apparently, and it seemed like dongyoung had that honor. 

thinking about namjoon being in dongyoung's soul perplexed hyuck because usually when you had another person's soul, you acted similar to them...and doyoung wasn't really like namjoon. maybe he would see it later when he got to know the prince more. 

"but never mind that," dongyoung swatted aside his own thought. "what matters is that his last talk with me was about you. i take it you're joining azure?" 

"yup." mark nodded then he sighed. "i'll admit, it took awhile to realize it but yeah, i want to be an angel." 

hyuck couldn't help but still think mark was choosing it because of doyoung, despite him stating his 'deeper' reasons earlier. 

hyuck couldn't blame him entirely though because his reason of joining azure was just the same. he wanted to be with his best friend forever even if he had to surround himself with people that weren't like him at all. 

"that's great, i'll be looking forward to your commitment." dongyoung nodded. 

hyuck was surprised that he just ended with that. what exactly was namjoon talking about when he said mark had potential? 

hyuck didn't realize he was the next and last one until he heard the angel clearing his throat. 

"donghyuck." 

hyuck widened his eyes and put his hand to his chest. "oh? did joon talk about me too? ha ha, he finally saw my potential!" 

"actually, king sol was the one who talked about you and...it wasn't about a possible 'potential.'" dongyoung awkwardly cleared his throat. 

hyuck stopped smiling and cleared his throat as well. "well...that doesn't mean anything." 

the others laughed at the orange-haired boy while his best friend sympathetically patted him in the back. 

"perhaps." doyoung answered casually. "so donghyuck..." 

"oh you can call me haechan, if you like!" hyuck said, interrupting the prince once again. "the little kids here started calling me that for some reason and i think it's pretty cute." 

the angel just stared at haechan in response. he spoke up again. "so donghyuck..." 

" _alright, full name's just as perfect..._ " hyuck nodded to himself, acknowledging the rejection. the other boys laughed silently. 

doyoung continued right away. "what realm have you been training to be in?" 

"azure!" hyuck exclaimed with as much enthusiasm as he could to convince himself he actually wanted to live there. "because..." 

that was when hyuck forgot he was winging his answer. he locked eyes with jaemin immediately and the pink-haired boy looked just as panicked as hyuck was. 

but then jaemin mouthed the words. _just smile!,_ and hyuck put his focus on the angel prince again. 

"because!" hyuck exclaimed louder with a forced grin. "it's just a great place, dude. angels are so cool, and like—i wanna be cool like an angel. i mean—i am already cool but like, i wanna be even more cooler, you know? like you!" 

silence washed over everyone quickly; jisung, renjun, and jeno tried their best not to laugh while the remaining orphans were silently embarrassed. doyoung was just glaring at hyuck, not sure whether the younger boy was being sarcastic or not. 

then all of a sudden, someone was clapping very slowly. it was na jaemin. 

"wow. that was very deep, haechan." jaemin clapped and had a shocked expression on his face. "i felt that...hyuck, you really do belong there like...shit, it only makes sense." 

jaemin probably tried his best for that to not sound sarcastic...but it did. renjun and jeno looked at him in confusion. 

hyuck still had to thank the pink-haired boy for trying his best to back him up, so he leaned forward and shook his hand. 

dongyoung cleared his throat, preparing to say something. hyuck was kind of scared, but also ready for his reaction. 

tongue in cheek, the angel prince looked away and slid his hands into his pant pockets. maybe he was trying not to be mad? _c'mon, yell at me, i dare you._

the angel sighed. "first of all...don't curse in front of me, please." 

_oh, he was that kind of person._ hyuck thought, trying not to laugh. jaemin just stared at the angel, probably thinking the same thing. 

"second of all...i'm not hm... _stupid,_ yeah i guess that's the word. i'm not stupid." 

dongyoung looked straight at hyuck and shrugged his shoulders up and down. 

the tension was already uncomfortable and it happened quicker than jaemin's, which was hyuck's wish. now he regretted it. 

hyuck thought doyoung was going to say more but he just glared. it was his turn. 

hyuck widened his eyes and dramatically put his hand to his chest. " _stupid?_ oh no, i would never think you were stupid, why would i? i swear on sol!" 

"have you done your reading on the history of azure, donghyuck?" the angel immediately accused. 

"woah—of course i have! you wanna see my notes?" haechan was honestly offended. he turned to his friends. "can you believe this dude?" 

hyuck was expecting his friends to laugh with him but they awkwardly averted their eyes. mark was about to say something but he stayed quiet as well. was...was hyuck missing something? 

"then you should be aware of what abilities angels acquire." dongyoung continued. "we can sense whether someone is lying or not." 

that's what he missed. now he understood why jaemin actually lost his battle. 

chenle didn't help because he spoke in his mind again. _you're stupid._

"i...probably did some light notes on that section..." hyuck admitted, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassingly. 

"it's like the first section of the book." renjun laughed. then he saw hyuck glare at him and stopped. 

"so what's your real reason, hm?" doyoung asked. "i can't help you if i don't know your real reason." _hm...so he wants to help me? maybe he isn't so bad._

then hyuck remembered how he defended jisung. maybe he had the same opinions about someone wanting to join a realm for someone else? 

"mm..." hyuck glanced at mark and noticed his best friend was staring intently back at him. perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. "i want to join because of mark." 

"mark? who's mark?" doyoung tilted his head in confusion. 

"oh—i'm mark!" minhyung raised his hand quickly and laughed. "it's a nickname." 

doyoung raised his eyebrows and looked away for a second, then he looked back at haechan. "okay, so why mark?" 

"he's my best friend." hyuck smiled. "and uh...this may be a little cheesy but like, i wouldn't want to be anywhere else without him." 

"EWWWW—" renjun immediately exclaimed, laughing his butt off until jaemin smacked him in the face. renjun was going to smack him back until he was reminded that his idol was right in front of him. he cleared his throat. "sorry, your highness." 

dongyoung had no reaction and he still had his eyes on hyuck. it seems like he was in deep thought...or maybe he was trying to sense if he was lying? 

then, to everyone's surprise, the angel prince smiled. "very well." 

"wait...really?" hyuck widened his eyes. "you're cool with that?" 

"yeah, i guess i'm _cool_ with that." dongyoung sighed. "it's commitment nonetheless, and we azurians represent that." 

hyuck looked at the others with an open-mouthed grin. they all gave him a thumbs up, except renjun who rolled his eyes. mark smiled the widest. 

haechan sprang up onto his feet and approached the prince with his arms opened. dongyoung quickly stepped back and glared at hyuck. 

"what are you doing." 

"oh...you don't do hugs?" hyuck put his arms back down. "or you want me to kiss your feet?" 

"a thanks would've sufficed." 

hyuck nodded and went back to the steps. "gotchu...thanks man." 

how was donghyuck supposed to live in the same realm with someone who was nothing like him? perhaps it would take even longer to get used to. 

as hyuck sat back on the steps, dongyoung spoke up again. 

"um...am i supposed to overlook you too, my prince?" dongyoung looked at the obsidian throne. 

"i don't think so." chenle shook his head. 

"okay, well...can i at least ask you how your magic has been?" 

"swell." chenle answered a little too quickly. "the eye still works if that's what you actually wanted to ask." _yikes, he's not in a good mood._ hyuck thought. 

it was probably because of the black eye, it was always obvious when chenle had it despite the thorn crown's excuse of trying to cover it. in hyuck's opinion, he thought the black eye was creepy, but he kept his mouth shut, for once, when it came to telling chenle that. 

dongyoung nodded at the little prince. "angels can't lie...so yes, i was thinking about it. any visions?" 

there was a notable second of silence, but chenle pretended he didn't cause it. "nothing worth having a council meeting for, no." 

dongyoung stared at chenle intently, probably doubting his honesty. then he sighed. _what did that mean?_

"very well, your majesty." the angel bowed. then he looked at the other boys. "i guess that'll be all for this week's progress report. i trust that you all will improve quickly next week. see you then." 

dongyoung started walking towards the skyline opening where the sunlight was hitting the floor. 

"wait, that's all?" jisung asked. 

doyoung turned to him. "i mean...unless you want me to look over your guys' notes?" 

"no! we're good!" hyuck immediately exclaimed. 

he didn't have any notes. 

"i second that...farewell, your highness." jeno nervously chuckled. they all waved at the prince. 

kim dongyoung of azure waved at all of them. then he looked up and immediately took flight. the flap of his big wings caused dust to fly everywhere. within a few seconds doyoung disappeared through the open castle skyline back to azure. 

renjun immediately whipped his body towards them and grinned. "wasn't that amazing? isn't he amazing?" 

"it was brutal... _he_ was brutal." jaemin rubbed his temples. 

"yeah, like that wasn't your fault, jaem." chenle got up from his throne and started to walk away. "now enlighten yourself and close the skyline, will you? i'm gonna take a nap." 

"did you want me to come with you?" jisung looked at the neo prince with concern. 

"no... _i'll be perfectly fine alone._ thanks." chenle mumbled, not even looking at his best friend. and with that, he left the throne room. 

"geez, his green hair turned a little red there..." jaemin raised his eyebrows in surprise. he looked at jisung. "sungie, did you want to close the skyline?" 

jisung still had his eyes on the hallway, watching chenle walk away. then he looked at jaemin. "hm? oh no...it's okay, i don't want to break anything." 

"hah, like i won't." jaemin nervously chuckled and looked up, raising his hand towards the ceiling. "now what was that spell ten did? something about the sky opening? or was it the sun—" 

"oh for sol's sake, nana—if you don't know how to do it, don't." renjun widened his eyes. 

"wow, do you not trust in my power?" jaemin gasped. 

"i don't trust _you._ " renjun rolled his eyes. "you're the one who said it was a hard spell to do—" 

"didn't mean i couldn't do it." jaemin crossed his arms defiantly. 

"sweetie...it was still lee youngheum who did it." renjun laughed. "the best mage in neo." 

"yeah and what about it? how about the next gen's best mage?" jaemin put his hand to his chest. 

renjun stared at his best friend in silence. then he raised his eyebrows. "oh? were you referring to yourself? i thought you were getting indigestion for a second there." 

jeno started laughing, watching his best friends arguing in amusement. while that was happening, mark turned to hyuck. 

"it won't be until another week 'til we see doyoung again, right?" mark asked. 

"hopefully a little longer." hyuck sighed. 

"oh cut him some slack a bit. he did accept your reason." mark nudged him. 

"hm. i guess that's true...but i still feel uneasy about it for some reason." hyuck replied. 

"maybe you should start doing your notes." minhyung insisted. 

"hm. probably." hyuck nodded. 

he was still happy about the thought of being with mark still. that's the only thing that should matter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some markhyuck is always good <3  
> i hope y’all are enjoying this so far!


	5. stupid crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> na jaemin: realm-less, terra bound  
>  _hanging out with his best friends and his...not-so best friend._

###  _one more week until the conversion_

it was currently the afternoon of the last day of the week. tomorrow would mark exactly seven more days until the conversion ceremony...and what was na jaemin doing instead of studying? 

gossiping with his favorite fairy who sat at the sill of jaemin's window. 

"and right when i gave yongie the rose, there was a sudden slice of wind coming at my hand!" the flora guardian of terra, lord kim jungwoo, dramatically gestured at his wrist. 

"no way...ten did that?" jaemin's mouth gaped open. his bed was against the window so jaemin sat on it and looked up at the fairy in amusement. 

jungwoo was currently in his mortal-sized body which was honestly more comfortable for jaemin to talk to rather than a smaller person the size of a finger. he could only stay in that form for just a few hours though, which was plenty of time for them to catch up. 

"yeah! it was supposed to be some sort of attack..." jungwoo leaned closer to the younger boy. "he used 'ventum cultro.'" 

jaemin gasped. "but you're only supposed to use that to cut crops!" 

"right? not to try to cut my fucking hand." jungwoo laughed. "i blocked that shit, of course." 

the situation he was talking about was definitely not something to laugh about, but the flora guardian was not a fearful fairy at all. 

"and he did that because he thought you were flirting with prince taeyong." jaemin shook his head and grinned. "that's top-level jealousy right there." 

"terrarians are born with it, i'm telling you." jungwoo sighed. "i was literally just trying to show him a rose remedy i came up with—" 

suddenly, renjun groaned from the top bed of the bunk bed he shared with jeno. jaemin chose to have the single bed because he wanted to sleep right beside jeno at the same eye level. 

"lord jungwoo, with all do respect, can you...leave? jaemin needs to look over his herbology notes and i also need to just...concentrate in general." 

"oh, so i suppose i'm only just an annoying scarecrow to you, little birdie?" jungwoo pouted, causing jaemin to chuckle. "an...o-obstacle?" 

"whatever that means..." renjun muttered. 

jungwoo continued with a smirk. "i was just filling jaemin in on all the things going on in terra right now since you've all been quite busy this month...he _does_ need to be aware of the atmosphere, after all." 

" _yeah_ , the drama-full atmosphere you create." renjun rolled his eyes. 

renjun didn't dislike jungwoo, but he always saw him as some kind of ‘opponent’ since they shared the same interest...that interest being: having a _stupid crush_ on kim dongyoung. 

"relax, junie, will you?" jeno looked up at renjun from the bottom bunk bed. "you're aware that we're in the presence of the master of herbology?" 

"master of herbology?" renjun laughed. "i'm sorry, but a 'master' is someone with, like, decades of knowledge. jungwoo literally started being guardian like two years ago. no offense, zeus." 

kim jungwoo belonged in the group of orphans who converted two years ago—along with ten, sicheng, and yukhei—and it surprised everyone when taeyong immediately appointed him the flora guardian position during the conversion. 

being a guardian was much like a prince except they had a little less responsibility because they were only assigned to take care of a specific area in the realm; the flora guardian was basically a caretaker for all of neo's nature concerning all plants. 

jungwoo was also given the name zeus, because it just gave him more confidence of having such an honorable duty. jungwoo really was great with all kinds of plants though, and his charm attracted nature all the time. even though he was a beginner, jaemin and many other terrarians always thought he was born to become a guardian. 

and jaemin had no problem defending him against his own best friend. 

he rolled his eyes at renjun. "yeah, that was totally not offensive at all." 

jungwoo made a swatting gesture with his hand. "no worries! ten gives me worse shit." 

"language." renjun growled. 

"oops." jungwoo jokingly covered his mouth and giggled. he looked at jaemin. "wow he really thinks he's an angel now, huh?" 

jaemin sighed. "trust me...i tried reminding him that he's only not allowed to cuss in azure, but he's forcing himself to refrain from doing it in general." 

"oh...that's tragic." jungwoo pouted. "cussing renjun will be missed...he always sounded so cute doing it..." 

"i can hear you." renjun growled again, causing jaemin and jungwoo to snicker. 

"and how about you, mr. handsome?" jungwoo called out to jeno. 

the fairy's nickname for jeno used to bother jaemin a lot, but he's used to it now since he knows who jungwoo currently has his eyes on... _stupid crush_. 

jeno looked up from the history of terra book. jeno had read that book for the millionth time this week as if he wanted to actually memorize every word. it seemed like jungwoo didn't notice what he was holding though. 

the fairy continued. "how's the life of an azure bound orphan treating you?" 

jeno looked at jaemin and cleared his throat. "you didn't tell him?" 

"oh, i didn't think i had to..." jaemin replied, then he turned to jungwoo. "he's joining us!" 

"oh really? that's amazing!" jungwoo started clapping, but then stopped abruptly. "although, i can't quite get the picture of jeno being an angel out of my head..." 

jeno sighed at that response. "i get it...i'll dye my hair or something." 

"awww, jeno." jaemin pouted. "but you're the only one who could ever pull off white hair." 

"i'm right here." renjun, who was now a white-haired boy except for his roots, glared at jaemin. 

"hi, jun." jaemin smirked and waved at his best friend, causing him to roll his eyes. renjun was pretty cute with white hair too, but jeno was...jeno. 

"yeah, you shouldn't dye it, jeno." jungwoo spoke up again. "i think it would be cool to have a white-haired elf. it'll definitely be written in the terra book someday." 

"oh shit! did you hear that, jeno?" jaemin exclaimed. "another reason for you to stay nose-down in that book everyday!" 

"ha ha, very funny." jeno replied but with a smile on his face, meaning he would really love that. 

"great, glad we could get that hair dilemma out of the way." renjun spoke up, rolling his eyes. "now can we just study in peace?" 

"sure, no problem!" jungwoo replied. "but, i can also just tell jaemin and jeno what they need to know about the forest and my pretty plant babies." 

"actually, you don't need to, my lord." renjun smirked and he took out a few pages of notes from his papyrus study folder. "i have all the notes right here." 

"sweet." jeno grinned and grabbed them from renjun's hand. 

"damn, you really do want me to leave." jungwoo widened his eyes. 

"oh not to get rid of you or anything—" renjun replied but then he realized what came out of his mouth and added. "i mean—don't you need to grow some crops or something?" 

jungwoo laughed. "it's towards the end of the summer, little birdy, meaning all the crops are naturally growing without my assistance. you sure you have enough notes?" 

renjun frowned and pushed his glasses up. "i haven't done notes on neo seasons yet..." 

"and that's why i'll stay!" jungwoo clapped his hands together in excitement. 

"oof about that...our mentor was gonna review it with us today." jaemin replied. 

renjun looked up with a startled expression. "yes. our mentor." 

turns out, not very surprisingly, prince dongyoung decided to try to out-mentor every previous mentor in existence by actually educating the orphans on things outside the 'study guide.' perhaps jaemin thought it was cool...but it would've been cooler without the excessive homework he gave out. 

"oh! i just realized i didn't hear who was chosen as mentor for you guys." jungwoo gasped. "who is it?" 

"it's none of your business, really." renjun immediately said with a nervous laugh. "you had your time, zeus." 

"and that time was rather uneventful..." jungwoo pouted. "no offense to kun, of course! i love him as a friend but mentoring is just not his thing." 

"you're kidding?" jeno scoffed. "even i wouldn't be able to stand trying to teach you, ten, _and_ yukhei together within even a minute. it was no wonder why kun favored sicheng..." 

_to the point of actually dating him shortly after his conversion._ jaemin snickered to himself. 

jungwoo laughed at the white-haired boy's response. "okay, i'll admit we were a mess...but nonetheless! i still wanna know if your guys' mentor has been good to you or not." 

"oh he has." renjun smiled. "now bye." 

jungwoo shook his head and mumbled. "poor boy's losing his heart faster than i thought...give him more love before it's gone for good, y'all...." 

jungwoo lifted his legs up onto the windowsill, preparing his leave. 

jaemin chuckled. "of course, jungwoo. probably not today though...his attention will be only be on his _stupid crush_." 

jungwoo already had his hands at the sides of the window but he stopped moving at that response. 

he whipped around towards jaemin immediately. "wait...kim dongyoung?" 

renjun hissed at the pink-haired boy. "you weren't supposed to say anything!" 

"woah, since when did i agree on that?" jaemin put his hand to his chest. 

jungwoo started cackling hard, causing the flowers on his head to glow more vibrantly within his orange hair. there were flowers all over the fairy's body too, and he was never too shy to flaunt his beauty, including wearing no shirt and only brown shorts. 

" _that's_ why you wanted me to leave! wow you really are azurian! very possessive...i'm impressed." 

"am not!" renjun exclaimed. "and it's not about that—you're not even allowed to be here, jungwoo. what if chenle comes in? or even worse, dongyoung himself—" 

right when renjun said that, there was a knock on their door. 

"renjun, jeno, jaemin? i'm here to check on you guys to see how you've all been and whatnot." 

the boys immediately froze at doyoung's muffled voice. 

" _that's doyoung._ " renjun whispered in panic. 

"holy...his voice sounds so soothing." jungwoo excitedly grinned at jaemin. 

"you’ve never talked to him before?" jaemin whispered. 

jungwoo quickly shook his head. "i've only watched him from afar." 

"yeah, totally not creepy." renjun replied. 

"oh like you haven't before." jaemin snapped back. 

"uh, shouldn't we let him in?" jeno got up and started walking towards the door. 

"wait! jungwoo has to leave first!" renjun hissed. 

"i can leave whenever i want, sweetie." jungwoo smirked. "although, i'm not sure i'm wearing the right attire for the first impression..." 

"yeah." renjun replied, glaring at the older boy. " _because you're fucking shirtless._ " 

"i'm sorry for loving my sun-kissed skin." jungwoo gasped. "also hah! you cursed." 

renjun started blushing and immediately covered his own mouth but still yelled back through muffles. "just go away!" 

"youuu can't make me~" 

"jungwoo—" 

before renjun could threaten the fairy even more, the door was already opening and the boys saw dongyoung, finally after seven days of not seeing him. the angel entered the room while looking down at his notepad. 

"i could hear your voices, don't understand why it took so long to open the—" 

"DONGYOUNG! OH MY—" 

jungwoo's high pitched shriek was cut off...because he fell back from losing his balance on the windowsill. jaemin immediately looked out the window in panic, but then he let out a sigh of relief when he noticed a little ball of pink light darting into the neo forest. then he sat back down, laughing to himself at jungwoo _literally_ backing out at the last second. renjun was laughing too. 

"did...did someone just scream my name and fall out the window?" dongyoung's eyes widened in surprise. 

"oh it was just lord jungwoo." jaemin casually answered. 

dongyoung tilted his head to the side. "...who?" 

the pink-haired boy blankly stared at the prince. _did he really just say that?_

jeno, who was also confused, decided to answer the prince this time. "...the flora guardian?" 

"i thought that was kun." doyoung looked away in deep thought. 

"it was, until prince taeyong split the guardian title in half and gave fauna to lord kun," renjun warily replied. "and flora to someone else." 

"that someone being jungwoo." jeno added. 

"hm, i never knew that." doyoung slowly nodded. 

he seemed genuinely amazed and unashamed of his own lack of knowledge, which surprised jaemin a lot. it was totally weird educating the wise azurian prince, yet pretty refreshing. 

and of course, jaemin couldn't help but to tease him for it. "thought you would, considering you're a very wise angel, my prince." 

as usual though, doyoung subtly snapped back. "i have my duties elsewhere...me being the prince of azure, jaemin." 

jaemin just forced a smile. "yup...as expected." 

"...although, i am interested in knowing who the new guardian is..." doyoung responded fondly. "what's his name again?" 

"kim jungwoo, and he's also a fairy." jeno responded. 

doyoung widened his eyes. "oh, a fairy? they're quite rare...wow, i'm surprised taeil wrote nothing about this in the terra book..." 

the prince started writing on his notepad with an inked feather. once he was done writing, he ripped the paper off the pad and chanted a few words in the ancient neo language used for spells. " _volant avis minima mea_." 

"what does that mean?" renjun asked in amazement, as the paper started to fold itself. 

"...'fly, my little bird.'" doyoung shyly muttered. "this is the best azurian way to send messages...i invented it." 

the final form of the paper looked like a bird and also acted as a real one, flapping its wings and flying out the window. 

"cute." jaemin noted as doyoung stared at him with a serious expression. 

the pink-haired boy knew the terrarian way of sending messages was by whispering through the breezes and carried through trees; it was how he and jungwoo would talk mostly whenever jungwoo was farther away in the forest. jaemin thought that that was way cooler than a paper bird for sure. 

"what did you send though?" jeno questioned. 

"just a message informing moon taeil to update the terra book." doyoung answered. "i'm surprised he left a whole person out, literally changing history by not stating there's two guardians of terra now—" 

"three guardians, your majesty." jeno quietly corrected. 

dongyoung seemed confused. "i'm sorry, jeno?" 

jeno averted his eyes for a quick second but then he cleared his throat and spoke a little louder. "there's three guardians in terra now." 

"oh..." dongyoung widened his eyes and then scoffed for some reason. "right, of course...three." 

it was pretty rude for dongyoung to leave out the gemma guardian of terra...but at the same time, everyone often forgot he existed. 

"anyway," doyoung moved on quickly. "leaving a guardian out is completely discrediting, and i should apologize to kim jungwoo." 

"i completely agree." jaemin nodded, genuinely starting to like the azurian prince. 

"thank you." doyoung gave jaemin a small smile, which was probably the first one ever. then he frowned. "but why did jungwoo leave just now?" 

"oh never mind that!" renjun exclaimed. "he probably needed to grow some crops or something—" 

"crops are already growing in the summer, remember, renjun?" jaemin smirked at the flustered boy. 

"ahh right, silly me—anyway. speaking of summer, dongyoung, don't you need to teach us about the neo seasons?" renjun frantically asked the currently confused angel. 

"um, right, yeah...but i was actually planning to teach the azure bounded orphans about soul-gifting and the wisest souls of azure first." doyoung responded. 

jaemin liking doyoung was good while it lasted, but it was gone now. not only did his answer mean he was obviously biased towards the azure bounded, but it also meant that he wanted to talk more about himself. 

dongyoung was one of the few neo people who had the most ancestral souls in the whole world...everyone knew that already. 

jaemin decided not to say anything though, he didn't want to 'bond' with dongyoung anyway. 

"oh okay! i'm totally fine with that." renjun smiled. "as long as we're movin' on—let's go to mark and haechan's room!" 

renjun energetically jumped off his bed, nearly crumbling to the floor, but successfully sprang up on his feet and grabbed doyoung's hand, dragging him out of the room. 

before doyoung could completely leave the room though, he held the door frame and peeked his head back in. "i'll be back soon to teach you guys about the restrictions of elf spell-casting." 

"oh for sure." jaemin nodded. "take all the time you need with your little birdies though, sir." 

at that response, doyoung rolled his eyes and officially left their dorm. 

"man...it's like i'm seeing him less and less every time." jeno sighed from his bed. 

"aw, don't worry, jeno. i'm pretty sure renjun still cares about us." jaemin responded. 

"i was talking about prince doyoung." 

"oh...of course." jaemin scoffed, trying his best not to roll his eyes. _stupid crush._

jaemin looked out the window and down below at the neo forest. the forest comfortably surrounded the neo castle; it was probably a mile away from it, but the boy could still see it's beautiful features. he also noticed some fairies fluttering through the trees. it made him ponder. 

"...i wonder if i should be a fairy." jaemin spoke up. "i mean...jungwoo did suggest it a lot, but i'm not sure if being tiny most of the time would be easy to get used to, y'know?" 

jeno didn't respond, but jaemin kept going, assuming he was quietly listening. 

"i'm also thinking about being his apprentice or something...like a flora guardian-in-waiting. i do think flowers are pretty, but i'm not sure about taking care of the other plants...the uglier ones." 

"mhm." jeno mumbled. 

jaemin smiled to himself. "but then again, flying around shirtless would be fun. plus, flowers on my body and my hair? i'd look cuter than i usually am, right?" 

"mhm...of course." 

jaemin's heart would have skipped a beat...if it wasn't obvious jeno's response was nonchalant. he looked at his best friend to see that he was, once again, focused on the history of terra book. 

jaemin frowned, but then smirked. why not mess around and test his best friend's attention span? 

"wow, doyoung's so boring and dumb...don't even get me started on his face. he's ugly, huh?" 

"oh yeah, for sure...totally..." jeno nodded mindlessly, but then he stopped and furrowed his eyebrows. "wait. what the fuck." 

jeno looked up at jaemin, and immediately the pink-haired boy started laughing. 

"ya...whatever i agreed to, i completely disagree." jeno said as jaemin kept laughing. "i didn't hear what you said but yeah." 

"whatever you say, bookworm." jaemin grinned. then he patted the spot on his bed beside him. "now take a rest from that book and come sit with me so we can look at this beautiful scenery." 

jeno rolled his eyes but he got up from his bed and groggily climbed onto jaemin's, silently plopping right beside the pink-haired boy, criss-crossed. jaemin couldn't help but smile, propping his elbow on the windowsill and resting his head on his hand. 

jeno was already looking out the window, but jaemin still had his eyes on his best friend. he loved when sunlight shined on jeno's face. 

it made him look even more ethereal than jaemin believed he was. the sun made him glow more, especially with his cloudy white hair...to jaemin, jeno was definitely an angel, except way more angelic than a real angel, if that made any sense. 

right when jaemin was about to look away, jeno started smiling, which of course, reeled jaemin in even more. he wished jeno always smiled whenever he wanted him to. 

jeno let out a short chuckle and pointed out the window. "there's an angel over there shaping some clouds into dragons." 

jaemin finally looked out the window and grinned with his best friend. "where?" 

"the clouds right above brine." jeno answered. "haha there's mermaids now shooting water at the clouds!" 

jaemin laughed. "typical azure-brine feud." 

then there was a comfortable silence. 

jaemin took the time to be grateful for having such a nice view of all three realms. it made him realize how small neo was, even though there were acres of neo forest, millions of azurian clouds, and many brinian seas. from where the boys were at though, it seemed so minimal and comforting, as if it was totally worth it to just stay at terra...with jeno. 

at that thought, jeno spoke up. "...so you wanna be a fairy, huh?" 

jaemin looked at the white-haired boy. "oh wow, so you were listening?" 

jeno shook his head. "nah, only the beginning of it." 

jaemin playfully rolled his eyes and looked out the window again. "maybe." 

"i can see that." jeno thoughtfully nodded. "you with wings." 

jaemin sensed where he was getting at. "...the tiny ones, kitty. not those gigantic hairy ones." 

"yeah...of course." jeno mumbled. 

jaemin frowned. "...angels aren't all that." 

"i'm aware." jeno replied. "you know, i'm aware each realm is fairly fascinating...i don't think highly of any just because of...idols." 

jaemin knew that was right. despite jeno having a huge _stupid crush_ on prince dongyoung, he still decided to stay terra bound...for some odd reason. 

"why...why do you want to be in terra anyway, jeno?" jaemin finally asked. 

"i..." jeno was obviously taken back by the sudden question, but then he cleared his throat. "i just...don't feel a sense of purpose with the other realms." 

jaemin scoffed. "says the one literally born with white hair." 

"but i never had gold blood in me, jaemin." jeno subtly snapped which surprised jaemin. "so it doesn't mean anything." 

"right..." jaemin mumbled. "sorry." 

"it's okay..." jeno sighed. "if i have to be honest with you..." 

"because i'm your best friend." jaemin smirked. 

"yes." jeno rolled his eyes and continued. "...my heart just belongs here. in terra...i just know it. i feel it." 

at this moment, hyuck would be laughing at jeno's lame, cheesy answer...but he wasn't here, and for some reason, jaemin didn't feel like joking around. so he looked at his best friend intently. 

the pink-haired boy smiled fondly at his... _stupid crush._

"i feel it too." and jaemin felt he belonged in terra solely because...in an even lamer and cheesier way, his heart belonged to the boy he was smiling at.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nomin <3


	6. souls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> huang renjun: realm-less, azure bound  
>  _a lesson with renjun’s favorite angel!_

"soul-gifting." prince dongyoung started. "a very honorable thing practiced in neo. anyone know what it is exactly?" 

huang renjun, as well as lee minhyung and lee donghyuck, were currently being educated by dongyoung about azure-oriented subjects in mark and hyuck's room. renjun felt incredibly honored that his crush felt like doing that with them, because it also meant that he had a chance to get closer to the prince.  

"it's pretty self explanatory, isn't it?" hyuck snickered, criss-crossed on mark's bed. 

renjun and mark sat on adjacent sides of the orange-haired boy, while dongyoung stood in front of them. 

"perhaps." dongyoung subtly replied. "but it isn't an easy process." 

"bet." haechan smirked at the prince, making renjun roll his eyes. 

it always annoyed renjun whenever hyuck messed around with doyoung. not only because it was wasting time, but also because it was truly embarrassing to him. 

"care for an exact definition if it's so easy then, hyuck?" dongyoung didn't hesitate to test the younger boy, which was another quality renjun admired. 

it was always fascinating to renjun how well doyoung could hide his emotions. you could never tell if he was genuinely happy or mad, and even if he showed at least a smile or maybe an eye roll, he did it so _coolly_ as if he didn't really care. compared to renjun, the soon-to-be-angel's emotions were out of control all the time. 

"sure!" haechan cleared his throat and clapped his hands together. "the honorable action of soul-gifting is...the act of...gifting souls." 

at that lame answer, mark started slow clapping for his best friend while renjun tried his best not to laugh. 

"totally brilliant, hyuck." doyoung rolled his eyes... _coolly_. renjun thought he was so handsome with every little face expression he did. "anyone else want to use their book knowledge correctly to form a definition?" 

the only other orphans in the room were renjun and mark, but of course, renjun wasn't going to give mark a chance to impress doyoung. the younger boy shot his hand up in the air immediately. 

doyoung silently nodded towards renjun, giving him permission to speak. 

renjun grinned confidently. "soul-gifting, is the act of giving your soul to someone else after choosing to join limbo." 

"basically what i said." haechan scoffed. 

"in a lesser context." renjun scoffed back. 

"well done, renjun." doyoung said, ignoring their bickering and turning to mark. "did you want to add anything, mark?" 

"hm?" mark looked up from staring at the floor. "uh...i mean, other than what renjun said, i guess that there's different types of soul-gifting? depending on what realm you're on." 

"ah, yes. you're absolutely right." doyoung smiled. 

renjun cursed to himself. he should have mentioned that. 

"when someone gifts their soul to another person before they leave neo, depending on your realm, that soul is used for different purposes." dongyoung started to explain. 

the boys were already invested, considering this information wasn't really in any of the books. 

"as you boys may know, angels use souls to add up to their immortality and their knowledge capacity." doyoung gestured towards himself. "the more souls an angel has, the longer they can live...many angels have been in the clouds for centuries—" 

"how about you?" hyuck interrupted, of course. he could never listen during a lesson in silence. "if all angels have lived for so long, like, dang...how old are you, dude?" 

renjun immediately widened his eyes at hyuck and hissed. "uh, rude." 

"it's okay, it's a common controversy when it comes to an angel's age." dongyoung casually replied. "when you're an angel, age doesn't really matter and rather...we age very slowly. i've been around for, maybe a couple of decades? less than a century for sure, but...man, to be honest, time flies by fast and it's awfully difficult to remember..." 

dongyoung rubbed the back of his neck stressfully. renjun wondered how hard it was to remember even being a kid if someone was immortal. would those memories be completely gone? 

"wow...that's kinda sad." mark mumbled. 

"oh, well, you honestly get used to it." dongyoung laughed casually. "and that's why angels write. we write to remember." 

another thing renjun admired about dongyoung. despite being so serious, he was also very optimistic and often brought good points to bad situations...just like two weeks ago when chenle basically rejected jisung for trying to stay with him in the neo castle. 

"so anyway," dongyoung continued. "we also use souls for knowledge capacity, meaning we're basically the best at obtaining information about anything. it's why we're the authors of the majority of neo books." 

"but do we have to write books?" hyuck subtly whined. 

"mm, well most angels do, but if it's not your thing, there's always vocalizing the information, as long as you're educating others." dongyoung answered. 

"so singing?" hyuck responded. "okay...i like singing." 

"and song-writing." the angel added. 

"ooh, cool." mark grinned. 

"seems like angels use soul-gifting in the most prestigious way." renjun couldn't have helped but point out. 

...he really loved azure with his whole chest. 

"i'd like to think so." dongyoung smiled. "but the other realms are quite strategical when it comes to gifted souls too." 

dongyoung explained to the three younger boys that brine and terra can also use their souls to obtain immortality but they aren't allowed to grant it constantly. 

"there are other people in the other realms that have lived as long as i have." dongyoung said. "take prince taeyong of terra, for example." 

"and prince jaehyun, right?" minhyung added, of course. 

"oh yeah, for sure." dongyoung let out a soft chuckle. "taeyong was granted immortality when he was appointed prince, but jaehyun and i have always been immortal." 

"oh right! because y'all grew up together right?" hyuck immediately said, as if he was actually intrigued for some reason. 

"right." dongyoung hesitantly answered, also weirded out at the orange-haired boy's sudden interest. 

"okay—i've been wondering about that for weeks now!" hyuck clapped his hands together. "how is jaehyun in brine if he was an angel with you?" 

renjun face-palmed at the younger boy's question. it showed exactly what hyuck's studying habits were...which was the habit of barely studying. 

"he's...a fallen angel, hyuck. a siren." dongyoung simply answered and frowned. "do you not remember that information from the history of brine?" 

hyuck stared at dongyoung blankly. 

"d-did we have to read that too?" haechan looked at both renjun and mark. "why didn't you guys tell me?" 

"it's literally the requirements for the conversion, stupid." renjun muttered. 

"well then, i guess i'll start reading that!" hyuck clasped his hands together. 

"it would be appreciated." dongyoung spoke up. "considering it took me a whole decade to write that one." 

renjun never knew dongyoung wrote the book of brine until that moment, and now it made perfect sense, considering the amount of detail put into prince jaehyun's section of the book. 

as dongyoung said, jaehyun was mostly known to all of neo as the fallen angel, and the first siren ever created. it wasn't a title to fawn over or envy...it was actually supposed to be a cursed one, but somehow, people still looked up to jaehyun for that tragic story of his. renjun also admired him...but he also couldn't help but roll his eyes at the mention of his name, since he was doyoung's lover. 

"wait but..." mark spoke up. "how is jaehyun still immortal if he's the fallen angel? sorry if you wrote it in there but i don't remember..." 

"i probably didn't...it's not really a good day to remember." dongyoung admitted shyly. "but jaehyun got to keep his immortality, because of _me_ , i guess. it's also why he was appointed prince of brine, even though brine doesn't really need authority." 

"cool." haechan nodded at the statement of brine being a 'free' realm. 

it fascinated renjun how subtly dongyoung mentioned himself being the reason jaehyun became immortal. shouldn't he have made a big deal about it? or maybe it really was a touchy subject. he was still curious though, but wouldn't dare to press the prince about it. 

"yeah..." dongyoung slowly nodded. "i mean you all know jaehyun is often favored by the limbo inhabitants so...it's not like anyone could have forced him to give all their souls back." 

renjun never really knew jaehyun other than reading his section in the brine book, and he doubted the other boys knew either, even mark. so it was weird for the angel to assume they knew what jaehyun was like. perhaps it was because he saw jaehyun in a different light and assumed everyone younger did as well. 

nonetheless, mark still acted like he knew the brine prince and grinned. "true." 

"okay so...assuming we're done with talking about prince jaehyun," dongyoung exhaled and clapped his hands together. "let's talk about what the people of brine do with souls." 

the angel prince explained that the inhabitants of brine, who were mostly mermaids and mermen, used souls to increase their physical strength and flexibility, as well as their charm. 

"so basically, they use their souls to look good." haechan spoke up after the angel's quite intricate explanation. 

"yeah, i guess you can sum it up to that." doyoung nodded thoughtfully. "i mean, other than obtaining the ability to survive in the treacherous waters...yeah they're pretty known for taking care of their visuals...it makes the animals more comfortable with them." 

"and it attracts people in other realms too, huh?" hyuck smirked. 

it annoyed renjun how comfortable hyuck acted with dongyoung. he was literally a prince and yet the orphan treated him as if they were the same age. 

"i...guess?" dongyoung raised his eyebrows. 

renjun also noticed that dongyoung seemed to break character when it came to talking with haechan. renjun wasn't sure if it meant he liked or disliked hyuck, but he was still intrigued nonetheless. 

"interesting." hyuck caressed his chin with his fingers. "so...considering angels are known for their natural good looks...it's quite easy to be attracted towards the other realm? to brine?" 

"i don't know, hyuck...i don't really focus on that sort of aspect." the angel blankly stared at the younger boy. 

_where was he getting at?_

"hyuck, can you like, stop changing the subject?" renjun muttered. 

"okay okay hold on, after this." hyuck put his hand on renjun's face. 

the older boy slapped it away and rolled his eyes. 

"so would you say you fell in love with prince jaehyun because of his ability to charm people?" hyuck immediately asked. 

"hyuck—oh my sol, what are you saying?" mark widened his eyes at his best friend. now he was embarrassed. 

renjun was afraid to see how dongyoung was reacting but he had to look. 

to renjun's surprise, dongyoung let out a chuckle. 

_a chuckle? he was okay with this?_

dongyoung grinned at hyuck as if he was amused. "what makes you think i'm in love with prince jaehyun?" 

_oh yikes._

hyuck immediately froze. "oh...w-well, i mean, i just assumed because—" 

"because some forest elves tell you guys about my relationship with him. you assumed." dongyoung seemed to have snapped...except with a smile? 

"hm, true." haechan started and then he went back on it... _his dumb shit._ "but, like, i mean you can't just be with him for centuries and not be head over heels for him, right?" 

dongyoung looked away in complete annoyance. he was pretty good at portraying his emotions when it came to haechan. 

"what is your point to this, donghyuck?" dongyoung mumbled. 

"mmm...nothing really." hyuck casually shrugged, tempting renjun to slap him. "i just wanted to know more about the funner side of this whole lesson." 

doyoung looked at hyuck blankly. 

renjun was honestly surprised that within the few weeks of dongyoung being with them, he had never yelled at hyuck before. jaemin's hobby of annoying people also didn't faze dongyoung, but haechan's was more penetrating, yet still no scolding was done. all the orphans have done it before, even youngheum the elf, but perhaps it just showed how perfect doyoung was as a prince. 

the prince sighed. "you mean the gossip?" 

"pretty much." haechan smiled. he nudged mark. "admit it, you were interested." 

mark shrugged. well of course mark was invested...jaehyun was literally his crush, but it didn't seem like hyuck knew that. 

"well then i guess i should just answer so we can move on?" dongyoung sighed. renjun thought he would just ignore hyuck's question but he guessed dongyoung wasn't that offended by it. 

"as you guys know, thanks to nosy elves," 

_also an annoying fairy but go on._ renjun thought. 

"me and jaehyun are currently together." doyoung hesitantly answered, almost as if he was too embarrassed to say it. "and we often have breaks but it's mostly because i have a lot of duties to attend to since i'm the archangel of neo." 

all three orphans sat in silence waiting for doyoung to say more. 

"wow, you kids are really invested in this..." doyoung widened his eyes but he continued nonetheless. "so yeah there's no drama behind it if that's what you guys were hoping for. we're just two guys who have spent a really long time together and yeah, i admire him a lot and he admires me a lot...nothing else to it. and i'm not under some siren charm spell...that's complete nonsense." 

hyuck squinted his eyes at the angel as if he could sense that doyoung was hiding a lot. of course renjun sensed it too but he didn't want to interrogate the angel like that...if hyuck asked one more thing, renjun was sure to slap him before he did. 

but surprisingly, hyuck just mumbled. "boring." 

dongyoung took no offense at all to that response, in fact, it seemed like he was hoping for that. 

he clapped his hands together and smiled. "okay! so let's talk about soul-gifting for terra." 

dongyoung was pretty hard to understand to renjun. he seemed offended, but got over it pretty quick? he guessed it was best to just forget about that whole conversation. 

"don't they use their souls for magic?" mark spoke up. 

it seemed like mark was also over it. he seemed to have spaced out during hyuck and doyoung's conversation, but it was probably because it was about doyoung and jaehyun's relationship. renjun wished he could have spaced out too, but he was too nosy. 

"precisely." dongyoung nodded. "when they obtain souls, they obtain power that improves their magical abilities." 

"doesn't that make them... _invincible_ though?" renjun asked. 

"well, depends on what invincibility means to you." dongyoung simply answered. "back then, other realms were scared that terrarians were going to use their powers for harming others...but elves and nymphs aren't like that at all. their only purpose for using magic is to tend to the neo forest and the people of neo." 

"but there are some cases of accidentally hurting someone with magic, right?" mark asked. 

this reminded renjun of earlier in the day when he overheard jungwoo telling jaemin about ten almost cutting jungwoo's hand off. jungwoo was probably over-exaggerating as usual, but it was still pretty perplexing. 

"yeah, i guess so." dongyoung shrugged. "but if you're talking about for defense, then yes. there are some dangerous animals in the forest so of course elves have the ability to tame using offensive spells. but only in those situations." 

"and if you're in _kruptos_." hyuck joked. 

renjun should have slapped him right there, but he froze. 

dongyoung immediately snapped. "what? don't joke about that." 

hyuck widened his eyes in surprise. "oh—sorry." 

dongyoung wasn't that angry though, he actully seemed more confused now. "how do you even know about kruptos anyway?" 

"it...there was a section of it in the history of terra, your majesty." mark hesitantly spoke up. 

"really?" doyoung frowned and took out his little notepad out of his jacket pocket and started writing. "i need to make a note of that for taeil...we shouldn't joke or talk about kruptos much less educate the younger generations about it..." 

doyoung said that as if he was scolding the boys but it just made the orphans more curious about the forbidden realm. 

apparently kruptos was 'destroyed' decades ago, so the newer generations only heard stories of what the realm was like. renjun never believed those tales of kruptos nearly destroying neo, but at the same time, he was still scared about the stories of the forbidden realm still existing somewhere. he also thought it was a dumb idea to hide the darkest history of neo from everyone...but he would never say that to dongyoung. 

"okay so...i wasn't expecting this lesson to fill up so much time but unfortunately it did." doyoung sighed, putting the notepad back in his pocket. "i have to go back to azure and check in with everyone." 

"awwww." renjun sulked. 

"dang, no more lecturing? bummer." hyuck sarcastically whined to mock renjun. 

"oh don't worry." dongyoung immediately smiled. "cutting the lesson short just means i'm coming back tomorrow to continue it." 

before renjun could respond with excitement...hyuck beat him to it. 

"YAYYYY, NICE!" haechan shouted enthusiastically, a little too much that made it obvious he was faking it. both renjun and doyoung rolled their eyes. 

"i'll finish your guys' lesson after i do the magic lesson with the terra-bounded boys." doyoung started to walk away as he waved at the orphans. "study hard, farewell." 

the three boys waved back at the angel prince as he left their room. 

"dang, that was a long ass lesson." mark rubbed the back of his neck and leaned his back against the wall. 

"yeah, i wonder whose fault that was." renjun replied, glaring right at hyuck. 

"hey, don't act like you don't unnecessarily extend lessons like everyday." haechan argued. "and besides, you aren't that mad about it, are ya?" 

haechan playfully nudged renjun, managing a small smile from him. 

"maybe...it should've been a different subject though." 

"yeah...it seemed pretty sensitive, hyuck." mark agreed. 

"eh, it wasn't that bad." haechan swatted the air. "it's not like he's gonna _drop me from azure_ because of it." 

"bet." renjun laughed as he gathered his notes and started studying like the angel prince told them to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pay attention to hyuck’s last line...it’ll be funny later ;) also a little hint but, the kruptos conversation is very important and will kinda affect the dreamies later on in the story!! oops


	7. terra bound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lee jeno: realm-less, terra bound  
>  _alone with his terra book...but for how long?_

###  _two days before the conversion ___

____

jeno spent the majority of the day alone. in truth, nowadays, he preferred to be by himself to prepare for the conversion. even his best friends jaemin and renjun would try to hang out with him but even then, jeno didn't bond with them much. he made sure they wouldn't distract him now that there was only a few days to prep for the conversion. 

____

it's not like jaemin and renjun were distracting him in a troubling way; in fact, jaemin insisted he could help jeno with magic, and renjun insisted he could help with neo history, but...jeno was too prideful to accept help. 

____

he knew that out of the three, he was the one...lacking. 

____

there was only two more days until the orphans would finally be accepted to the realms outside the castle, and yet, jeno was still _lacking._

____

he lacked the ability to use magic, and he lacked the knowledge of neo history. no matter how hard he concentrated, he could barely make a chair float; and, well, everyone knew the only realm jeno cared about was the terra realm. 

____

he wasn't totally oblivious as to why he was inept in magic though. he almost knew _exactly_ why he couldn't fulfill the duties of becoming a true elf, and the answers were in his reach...in the terra book. 

____

but he knew he could never tell anyone about those specific answers, not even his best friends. it _had_ to be a secret, for some reason. 

____

as jeno was flipping through the pages of the terra history book while blindly walking through the hallway at the same time, consequently, he bumped into someone and crashed into the wall. he fell to the floor and quickly looked up to see who, quite harshly, pushed him. 

____

prince zhong chenle groggily got up from the floor, in front of jeno. he mumbled. "please watch where you're going, kid." 

____

then he looked down at jeno and widened his eyes. "oh...jeno. sorry about that, should've known it was you! since your build is...getting stronger?" 

____

chenle always followed an apology with flattery, he was taught to do that as royalty and it often worked. 

____

jeno snickered and got up as well. "thanks for noticing. what's your rush anyway?" 

____

"no real rush." chenle rubbed the back of his neck. "i guess i'm just more eager to attend to my prince duties these days." 

____

"is that so?" jeno raised his eyebrows. "is...is it because of the conversion?" 

____

"what do you mean?" chenle tilted his head, and started blinking rapidly. 

____

it was quite easy to see through a kid like chenle, especially with jeno's quality of being very observant. 

____

"you want to be distracted...because you don't want to think about jisung leaving." jeno answered. 

____

at first, chenle was dumbfounded, but then he smiled back and sighed. "do elves acquire mind-reading or something?" 

____

"nah, you're just that obvious, your majesty." jeno leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "but yknow...it's not really best distancing yourself more." 

____

chenle leaned beside jeno and averted his eyes. "does it really look like that? i don't mean to...i mean, it'll be worth it at the end. once i finish everything, i'll spend my free time with him." 

____

jeno nodded. "well, make these two days count, but also slow down...wouldn't want you falling asleep during the conversion." 

____

"funny." chenle playfully rolled his eyes at the white-haired boy. "i'll be sure to wake up right when your turn ends." 

____

"oh how cruel!" jeno responded, laughing. 

____

chenle chuckled as well, but then his usual serious expression came back. "...jisung's not the only person i'll miss, jeno. not to get all sappy but, i'll really miss you all." 

____

it took jeno by surprise seeing chenle express deep emotions these days since he had always been busy. it was refreshing. 

____

jeno gave chenle a small smile. "we still share the same land, chenle. the same world. all of us." 

____

this time, chenle didn't return the smile. "but the freedom that will be given to you all...is not the same freedom given to me—huh, in fact, despite my 'participation' in this year's conversion, i don't think anything will be different for me." 

____

jeno stopped smiling, and gave chenle a pitied expression. "sorry if this seems disrespectful...but do you feel imprisoned here?" 

____

jeno mentally braced himself for the prince to overreact, but surprisingly, chenle just scoffed. 

____

"to be honest? probably." chenle shifted in discomfort. "for a prince, i honestly feel useless. but it isn't my fault, is it? sol expects me to be chained to this castle awaiting his return...but it's always been like that. castle-sitting until he comes back from doing azure-knows-what up there." 

____

"so i see you and the king are at it again." jeno concluded. 

____

"i wish we were." chenle admitted. "but he's literally been silent since he left...seriously who does that?" 

____

king sol left neo at the beginning of the year without a specific reason, but that wasn't totally strange considering the longest sol had been gone was more than a full year. what was strange was the fact that he hadn't communicated with the only person who could talk to him from afar, which was chenle. 

____

"that is weird..." jeno nodded. "but maybe he needs more alone time? being the busy king, after all." 

____

" _busy..._ " chenle scoffed. "that's quite the word." 

____

"okay maybe not the right word...but i don't dare to say anything with lesser meaning." jeno nervously chuckled. "but with him being away...doesn't that give you more freedom than expected?" 

____

"hm...go on." chenle looked up at jeno, intrigued. 

____

"as in, roaming outside the castlegrounds." jeno smirked. 

____

"oh wow, sol wouldn't like that..." chenle nodded thoughtfully...but then he returned the smirk. "so i _gotta_ consider it." 

____

"that's the spirit!" jeno clapped. "it makes more sense if you take charge as a prince, lele." 

____

and it was true. despite chenle being the youngest prince in neo history, that wasn't assigned by blood, he was very capable of ruling a realm, even _all_ realms. it was not only because of his power, but his hidden intellect, and jeno believed that very much...all chenle's dear friends did. 

____

"you're right. thanks jeno." chenle grinned with appreciation. "i guess i've been lacking enthusiasm lately, but thankfully i bumped into you or else i never would've thought about it." 

____

chenle looked down on the floor and crouched down. 

____

"speaking of enthusiasm..." the prince picked up jeno's terra book. "you really can't wait to get out of here and explore the forest, huh?" 

____

suddenly, jeno's heart skipped a beat. 

____

he nervously laughed. "yeah, i guess you can put it that way." 

____

just as jeno reached out to take the book from the neo prince's hands, chenle quickly retracted them out of jeno's reach. jeno looked up at chenle to see him smirking, his blind eye was still a pure black. in fact, he barely noticed now, but it had been black since the day doyoung was introduced as their mentor. _why was it so noticeable now?_

____

still smirking at the white-haired orphan, chenle stood up straight and started slowly walking away with the book. jeno respectively followed behind. 

____

"y'know jeno, i never quite understood why you chose to stay bound to terra." chenle spoke up, flipping through the pages of the terra book. 

____

"what do you mean? you were awake when i explained it to doyoung, right?" jeno fiddled with his fingers. 

____

"yup, but that explanation was so lame, dude, even for you." chenle laughed. 

____

jeno rolled his eyes. "but it was true." 

____

"seriously?" chenle looked over at jeno with surprise. "honestly, you were the first person i'd assume would pick a realm for their crush. i'm genuinely curious, jeno." 

____

jeno wasn't sure whether he should be offended or not about the prince assuming such a ridiculous thought of picking a realm for a crush...no offense to donghyuck, of course. jeno did like doyoung a lot, but his crush for him was mostly based on admiration, nothing more. nonetheless, jeno wasn't about to give chenle the real reason why he _had_ to pick terra. he had to distract him from the topic. 

____

jeno scoffed and looked away from the younger boy. "you really think i'd tell you looking like that?" 

____

chenle frowned. "hm? what does my eye got to do with anything?" 

____

_oops._ the group sort of swore that they would never make negative comments about chenle's blind eye... _oh well._ he had to. 

____

"nothing...it's just intimidating, that's all." jeno mumbled. 

____

chenle halted in his tracks, and jeno followed. they faced each other, chenle almost full-on glaring at the older orphan. 

____

then he asked firmly. "why did you pick terra?" 

____

jeno frowned and spoke up immediately after. "why has your eye not changed back yet?" 

____

chenle widened his eyes, obviously taken back, but then he cleared his throat. "that is none of your concern." 

____

"then my reason is none of your concern either." 

____

"but i'm your prince, jeno." chenle smirked. it annoyed jeno whenever chenle used his prince excuse for these kind of reasons...but jeno couldn't give in....he just couldn't. 

____

"you're also my friend, chenle." jeno answered with a serious tone. "and it may be obvious of which comes first to you but i know where i stand...and i need you to respect that." 

____

chenle didn't hide the fact that he was surprised, in fact, he started to grin. "geez, you're pretty scary when you're serious...don't understand why jaemin always wants to protect you." 

____

jeno didn't understand that either. 

____

chenle closed the terra book shut and handed it to jeno. 

____

"thanks." jeno mumbled as he took his book back. "i'll see you later, lele." 

____

jeno started to walk away. he wanted to forget the weird conversation they shared. 

____

"jeno." chenle called to him. jeno sighed and turned back around. 

____

chenle's face was back to being serious. he adjusted his bronze crown to make sure the thorns covered his blind black eye properly. 

____

"i don't think it's gonna change back in awhile." 

____

"your...your eye?" jeno raised one of his eyebrows. 

____

chenle simply nodded, then he gestured at the terra book in jeno's hand. 

____

"it _has_ to be like that...just like how that book changes." 

____

jeno's heart skipped a beat one more time...he couldn't believe that chenle, the neo prince knows. 

____

"so you know?" jeno muttered. 

____

chenle gave him a small smile. "it's unavoidable if you're me." 

____

he must be referring to his powers...but still, it didn't make sense. _if he knows, what does he think of me?_

____

"why don't we have a longer chat?" chenle spoke up again, gesturing for jeno to walk with him. 

____

there wasn't really a choice to decline, and besides, now that jeno knew he wasn't alone, he had to learn more with someone else. so the white-haired boy followed the young prince to talk about their 'secret'...the reason why they both had to stay in terra.

____

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’ll admit this chapter was pretty ambiguous but it’s because both jeno and chenle have a lot of secrets, that they’ll be sharing together now! can you guess what they’re about? if not, find out soon ;)


	8. the conversion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> park jisung: terra bound  
>  _the time has come for the realm-less orphans to move out of the castle, into their destined realms._

###  _the last day of summer, the day of the conversion_

after months of preparing for the conversion, it was now time for the actual day of the ceremony. jisung, the youngest of the group, stood at the doorway of his room, looking in. 

both his and chenle's beds were neatly made and other than that, the whole room was empty. the maps of neo that hung on jisung's wall were already taken down and all his drawers once full of clothes and other possessions were now empty; they were magically transported to wherever he was supposed to stay at in the neo forest. 

all of chenle's favorite historical books that were stacked endlessly on his side of the floor were moved to another room, which was the royal room the prince was supposed stay at from now on. that room was always there for chenle, but he preferred to stay with jisung since they were younger. 

jisung knew that their empty room was supposed to be a symbolism of a new beginning, but he couldn't ignore how gloomy the start seemed. chenle would have his own room and jisung would have to live in the neo forest now. of course, jisung was still excited for what the terra realm had in store for him, but he couldn't help feel somewhat sorry and worried for the neo prince. 

he was sorry that chenle was now left alone without any of his friends to be there around him for company, and he was worried that...chenle would change. 

jisung knew chenle enough to know that he wouldn't be thinking negatively of this change, but that if he did feel sad, he would use that energy to become more mature—use his own emotions to create a shell around him. sure, it would make him more fit as a prince, but jisung feared chenle wouldn't be able to savor the childhood he still had left. 

_what are you thinking about?_ chenle's voice immediately interrupted jisung's worrying thoughts, causing him to jump in his stance. 

"sol's sake—lele, don't do that." jisung dramatically held his chest and turned his head to see chenle standing beside him. 

the older boy snickered. "sorry, saw you were in a rather sad kind of contemplative state, so i wanted to wake you from that." 

"...thanks, i guess i needed that." jisung nodded. he continued looking at what was once their room and chenle joined. 

"i'll admit, i might miss this but...the room i moved into is _way_ better." chenle laughed. "dude, it's like so spacious you could fit terra's entire tree-castle in it! ...don't tell taeyong i said that." 

jisung just laughed in response, shaking his head. 

then chenle cleared his throat and casually leaned against the door frame. "jisung, i wanted to give you something." 

"hm?" jisung raised his eyebrows curiously. "some kind of farewell gift, or something?" 

"mm, just...a gift. i don't want it to sound that sad." chenle rubbed the back of his neck, then he slipped his hand into the pocket of his trousers. 

"let me just tell you a little backstory just in case you get weirded out." chenle added, as he kept his hand in his pocket. 

"okay, i'm listening." jisung replied with a little suspicion. 

"so, prince doyoung being prince doyoung, gave me a little— _a lot_ of royal advice...not like i needed it but i guess it did give me some insight." chenle started explaining, as he looked down awkwardly. "he talked to me about having some kind of 'loyal companion,' or whatever, and how like, every prince has one." 

jisung silently nodded and chenle continued. 

"but i didn't know that was a legit thing for younger princes. like, it was some sort of necessary courtesy—a right hand man, i guess? of course, his was prince jaehyun like he mentioned, and prince taeyong's was ten. when they grow older they choose whether to keep that bond or not, it's an...emotional connection." 

the last statement caused jisung to widen his eyes with surprise. "wait, like a literal emotional connection? an empathy link?" 

"yup! but it only works if you think of that person, supposedly. so whenever doyoung was stressed with azurian stuff, he would think about jaehyun, and jaehyun being an optimistic person, he himself started to feel more cheerful and he was able to continue his work positively. same with taeyong and ten—who knows if they still have that connection now though, but yeah." 

"oh wow, that's actually really nice." jisung responded. he never knew magic could be implemented like that...and he also wondered why the green-haired boy was bringing it up in the first place. 

"i thought it was dumb at first, but it's actually pretty fascinating...apparently king hoseok invented it centuries ago with his own spell. the bond is actually stronger if you're of elf royalty because you can use your own magic." chenle explained. "anyway, doyoung suggested i'd choose someone as my 'empathy companion' since i'm still in my adolescence stage. so, uh...i pick you." 

chenle's straightforward conclusion honestly startled jisung, even his heart skipped a beat. "you-you pick me?" 

the prince gave his best friend a small smile. " _surprisingly enough,_ it was quite an easy decision." 

jisung stayed dumbfounded, blankly staring at the green-haired prince. 

chenle shrugged and sighed. "although, the hard part is whether you'll be down or not. i'm the first neo prince in history, and you know, with sol being gone all the time, i'm aware of the burden i'll have to carry—literally all three realms on my shoulders and—" 

"are you kidding, lele?" jisung interrupted with a scoff. then he grinned. "of course i'll be your empathy companion." 

now it was chenle's turn to be surprised. "well i didn't even finish what i was going to say—you'd also have to deal with my nightmare visions and just the plethora of emotions i go through because of my powers." 

jisung crossed his arms and kept the smile on his face. "and i'm down for that." 

"...really?" 

"yeah, dude. i've dealt with all of your complicated power stuff for so long, what would a lil empathy link do?" 

the prince scoffed in response. "i'd imagine it would do a lot." 

the younger boy casually swatted the air. "tsk, nothing i couldn't handle." 

yes, there was a little doubt inside jisung but he couldn't just reject his best friend. if it made chenle happier since he was now going to be alone, of course he couldn't let the opportunity go. 

chenle looked at jisung intently for a few seconds, then he spoke up. "i choose you because i trust you, and i trust that you'll make me happy...or whatever." 

that's when jisung noticed, through the crevices of the thorns that covered chenle's blind eye, the eye wasn't a pure black sclera anymore. it finally returned back to a sparkling gold since about three weeks, which had to mean something good. he wanted to make sure chenle had his golden eye more often. 

"and i'll be sure to make you happy, despite our distance." jisung replied with a sweet smile. he was very sincere. 

chenle could tell he meant it too, so the prince grinned. "that's great, thank you, jisung." 

for some reason, this commitment made jisung more excited to move into the neo forest. it made him more comfortable, knowing that as long as he was happy there, he knew it would make chenle happy too. 

"now for the weird part..." chenle said as he finally took out his hand from his pocket. he opened the palm of his hand to reveal...two rings. "i asked doyoung for bracelets but he said they had to be rings, for some reason..." 

the rings were pure gold, embedded in all kinds of gemstones on the band, the colors of a rainbow. 

"they're beautiful." jisung gasped as he chose one, the both were identical so it didn't matter. 

"gems from the caves of neo, specifically polished by the gemma guardian himself." chenle explained. "but yeah basically, the bond works as long as we wear the rings." 

"understood, sir." jisung smiled, still admiring how nice the ring looked. he put the ring in the middle finger of his left hand, and chenle followed. 

"departing won't be so bad after all now, huh?" chenle grinned as he held his hand out to jisung in a fist. 

if chenle also chose him because he didn't want jisung to feel gloomy, then the younger boy appreciated that very much. 

"nope." jisung fist-bumped chenle, and their rings made a clinking sound as they connected. 

then they finally left their room, officially leaving behind their childhood together. 

with chenle's arm slung over jisung, they both met the rest of the orphans lined up at the beginning of the hallway that led to the throne room. the doors were closed so they couldn't see what was prepared in the room for the ceremony. 

"hey guys, guess what?!" chenle exclaimed, showing up the ring on his hand. 

the other boys had perplexed looks on their faces until jisung playfully rolled his eyes and showed them his ring too to which their faces brightened up. 

"oh wow jisung, you're chenle's royal companion!" renjun grinned and clapped for the younger boy. "i read all about that in the neo royalty book, it's a high honor!" 

jaemin walked to jisung and chenle and intently looked at their rings. "aw these are super pretty, we should get matching rings too, jeno." 

"uh, yeah, let me just become a prince real quick." jeno scoffed. 

jaemin pouted and muttered to himself, but jisung could still hear. "that's not what i meant but okay..." 

"you know, i could've been a perfect companion for you, chenle." hyuck spoke up. it was probably true since he never was in a bad mood. 

"i thought so too for a sec, to be honest." chenle added as he took his arm off of jisung. "but i don't think the bond is strong if you're in a different realm, especially if you're down below." 

"huh? you mean high above." the azure bounded boy tilted his head in confusion. 

"oh yeah—sorry that's what i meant!" chenle replied in panic, for some strange reason. "you'd still be pretty far away..." 

hyuck was still confused but he shrugged and turned back to the close doors with the rest of the boys. jisung suspiciously looked at his best friend. 

"i got a vision this morning...he'll find out soon." chenle whispered. 

jisung didn't quite understand what that meant exactly but he figured it wouldn't do him any good if he pondered on it. if it was a vision about hyuck, he was sure the optimistic boy would handle it well. 

"oh my god...he's here." mark gasped. there were rectangular windows on the doors and the older boy was peeking through one curiously. 

"who? doyoung?" renjun tried to look, as well. 

"well no shit, we've seen that guy way too often, it's a given." jaemin groaned. 

"prince jung yoonoh." mark answered with a loud voice that showed how shocked he was. "i've only seen him in drawings...and they do _not_ do him enough justice." 

"wait what? why is the prince of brine here?" jeno walked towards the doors. 

"yeah, no one wanted to join his realm." renjun bluntly added. 

"totally not rude, junie." haechan called the older boy out. 

"well it's true—" 

"all princes are supposed to attend the conversion, just in case there's some _changes _." chenle answered as both him and jisung joined to look through the door windows.__

__"wait, changes? what do you mean 'changes?'" jaemin turned to chenle._ _

__at first chenle hesitated in answering, but then he sighed. "the royal council, mostly the princes, have the right to change your realm, regardless of your training for your dream realm."_ _

__"so you're saying...our training was for nothing." hyuck replied._ _

__"well if you were training for the wrong realm." renjun pointed out. "i guess we'll just hope our reasons for joining are true."_ _

__the boys silently nodded. if jisung had to change realms....that would suck for him. not only would he be very unprepared to join azure or brine, but it also meant he would be farther away from chenle which would not be good._ _

__jisung looked through the window and saw a few people standing beside the thrones, three figures to be exact. he easily recognized doyoung who was inspecting the white marble throne, for some reason. doyoung wore what he usually wore except his pants were more loose and flowy at the ends, almost making it look like a long skirt. gold glitter was all over his exposed skin on his hands and cheeks._ _

__jisung assumed the guy next to him was prince jaehyun because for a short moment, jaehyun sneakily put his arm around doyoung's waist, which startled the angel and caused him to push jaehyun in embarrassment before jaehyun could pull him close. the brine prince casually laughed it off._ _

__jisung understood why mark was so shocked at the sight of jaehyun because he was very handsome and jisung could already tell how charming he was._ _

__in contrast to doyoung's fully white outfit, prince yoonoh wore a long, buttoned up cloak made of some kind of silk material that changed from a sparkly navy blue to a royal purple whenever he moved. jisung remembered reading somewhere that mermaids wore cloaks whenever they came to terra because it shielded their sensitive skin from the sun; they were also usually half-naked without it._ _

__other than his beautiful iridescent cloak, jaehyun also wore a pearl choker around his neck and to match, he wore a silver crown embedded with pearls on top of his head, placed on his short and wavy brown hair. jisung also noticed that jaehyun wore a companion ring on his ring finger that was almost exactly like his, and doyoung wore the other one, also on his ring finger. it made jisung smile knowing that they wore it for so long since their childhood._ _

__standing next to jaehyun was most likely the prince of terra, lee taeyong. jisung had only seen him once in his life and that was when he was a little child, but if he had to be honest, the prince looked the exact same—which would probably make sense since he was immortal._ _

__taeyong's appearance was definitely less flashy than doyoung and jaehyun's. taeyong wore a flowy white blouse with a low v-neck and sage high-waisted pants, as well as knee-high brown boots. what intrigued jisung the most were the vines that tightly wrapped around the ends of the prince's pants and sleeves. there were also a plethora of flowers growing from those vines and they were scattered all over taeyong's neck and chest. he thought jungwoo was the only flower boy but seeing taeyong changed his mind._ _

__taeyong's crown was similar to chenle's in that they were both made of bronze, but instead of thorns, taeyong's was a normal branched crown studded with fluorescent crystals shaped like flowers. it complemented taeyong's hair well because his hair was pink, like jaemin's but a lighter, softer shade._ _

__the three princes seemed friendly as they all chatted together, which made sense, considering they all grew up together for decades._ _

__"seeing the princes together is so...powerful." jisung admitted aloud. "almost scary."_ _

__"agreed." mark replied._ _

__"oh, and look at the guardians coming in! i didn't know they were supposed to attend too." renjun added._ _

__"they're the ones guiding you guys after the ceremony's done. the princes are only here to observe, really." prince chenle explained._ _

__jisung had seen all of the guardians before so he could easily recognize them. there was only one azurian guardian and that was lord moon taeil who had the same glowing white appearance as doyoung. taeil was wearing an oversized white wool knit sweater with tight white pants, which was way more casual compared to doyoung's daily formal outfit. the only thing that wasn't white was his hair which was a dark carob brown._ _

__the guardian seemed pretty calm and casually nodded at doyoung as he passed by. that's when jisung realized that their wings were gone, and instead, they had long capes made of white angel feathers. maybe they were able to magically transform when necessary? it seemed definitely useful since the wings were obnoxiously huge._ _

__after taeil was only one out of three brine guardians which made sense since there were no brine bounded orphans needed to be guided anyway. the single guardian was lord seo youngho, who wore a cloak identical to jaehyun's except it was a shimmering silver one. youngho caught up to taeil and started talking to him, while waving at jaehyun. he seemed pretty friendly. behind the two guardians, followed—_ _

__"JUNGWOO!" jaemin slammed his hands on the doors, causing it to shake aggressively. everyone turned to look at the noise, and so did jungwoo who enthusiastically waved at his young friend._ _

__"calm down, nana, you literally see him everyday." renjun growled in annoyance because the pink-haired boy completely toppled onto him just to wave back at the fairy._ _

__"everyday?" chenle questioned._ _

__jaemin laughed nervously. "oh, he's just joking! i don't know jungwoo like that...just a fan."_ _

__jisung honestly thought there was no point in lying to chenle anymore but perhaps jaemin thought his constant contact with the terrarian guardian would affect his conversion, maybe it did._ _

__lord jungwoo was more clothed than usual; he wore a flowy off-the-shoulders white blouse with brown high-waisted trousers and black ankle-boots. it honestly seemed like he and taeyong would be having a competition to see who wore the most flowers because jungwoo had a huge flower crown and wore a long cape completely adorned with flowers...which was appropriate since he was the flora guardian._ _

__there was another terra guardian following behind jungwoo who was lord qian kun: the guardian of fauna and the most popular guardian of neo. jisung admired him the most because of how humble and caring kun was according to the terra books, and it was also apparent with what he was wearing._ _

__kun also had an off-shoulder white blouse, brown pants, and black boots like jungwoo, but the accessory that was different was his huge black hooded cloak. it was the coolest article of clothing any guardian could wear, not even jungwoo's flower cape could compare in jisung's opinion._ _

__one would think it was just an ordinary black cloak but it really wasn't. jisung read in the terra history book—jeno could probably recite it word by word—that when he wore it outside, it could reflect its surroundings thus camouflaging the guardian; apparently, it was given to kun by the elder fairies before they passed as a token of always taking care of terra's wildlife. one day jisung had to befriend kun and maybe try it on if he'd let him; it was every terrarian's dream, but especially his._ _

__jisung was surprised the gemma guardian, _nakamoto yuta_ , was absent, considering he was the oldest guardian out of everyone, but at the same time, jisung figured he probably had better things to do, like searching for rare crystals or something. jisung could imagine how amazing the guardian's appearance would've been since his specialty was literally breeding the most beautiful gems and crystals of neo. _ _

__"jisung, quit hogging the window, i wanna see johnny!" hyuck squished right beside jisung so their cheeks smashed together._ _

__"woah, how do you know youngho?" jisung widened his eyes. he wasn't sure if he should call him by his nickname since he was a guardian but haechan didn't hesitate at all._ _

__"sure! when he was at the conversion last year with jaehyun, i talked to him and he was really cool." hyuck answered. "he told me about the _spooky_ things that lurked in brine." _ _

__"r-really? like what?" jeno asked hesitantly._ _

__"like a huge monstrous creature called...the kraken!" haechan jumped at jeno causing him to jump. jaemin immediately smacked hyuck on the back of the head._ _

__"ow! what? we're never gonna see it anyway since we're not in brine." hyuck rubbed his head. "i mean, when i get my wings i'll try to find it somehow, since _i'm_ not a coward." _ _

__haechan started laughing while jeno and jaemin pushed him against the window to smudge his face all over it. the other boys were laughing while renjun tried to pull his best friends away from the orange-haired boy, surprisingly. then all of a sudden, ten's face popped up on the other side of the window, followed with a _bang!_ on the door. all of the boys jumped away from the window in surprise. _ _

__ten started grinning, pointing at them teasingly. then he opened the door and joined them in the hallway._ _

__"got you dorks good!" ten snickered. quickly, he put his hands to his back and cleared his throat. "the conversion ceremony will start very soon! but first, can prince chenle please enter the throne room first and occupy his beautiful obsidian throne?"_ _

__the boys looked at chenle who stood behind them. the green-haired boy cleared his throat too, as if he was channeling his maturity. he adjusted his crown and walked forward._ _

__as he walked pass the orphans, they each bowed before him. chenle glanced at jisung who was at the front. the younger boy simply smiled, before he also bowed at his best friend._ _

__once chenle exited through the doors, ten the elf gestured the rest of the boys to line up and follow._ _

__the throne room seemed throughly clean, like each stone wall was polished new and the tuscany yellow carpet leading to the front doors was sparkling under the sunlight that came through the open skyline. the golden tapestries hung behind the thrones, that were embroidered with the names of the previous kings, were also sparkling and seemed more significant than usual._ _

__the guardians of all realms were lined up in front of the thrones while the three princes stood in between them and the thrones; both groups faced the orphans, who were lined up before them all. once everyone stood in their positions, ten walked towards the steps leading to the neo thrones._ _

__"real quick attendance...part of procedure." ten sighed, then he brought back his fake enthusiasm. "present from the council we have: prince dongyoung and lord taeil from azure, prince yoonoh and lord youngho from brine..."_ _

__"prince taeyong— _hi yongie._ " ten abruptly interrupted himself and waved at the pink-haired elf to which the terra prince literally acted like nothing happened. ten continued instantly, as if he predicted his ignorance. "lord kun, and lord jungwoo from terra." _ _

__the orphans all acknowledged the council in awe. all of them seemed very mature in a group setting, and jisung found it truly respectful._ _

__"and finally, unfortunately, the _only_ representative from neo present at the moment...prince chenle." _ _

__chenle walked up the steps leading to the white marble and obsidian thrones. that's when the boys noticed chenle had a new article of clothing on: it was a long cape that was shimmering with the iridescent colors of a rainbow slung over the small shoulders of the boy. it was basically the same one all kings had to wear but a simpler version._ _

__still, it truly amazed each of the boys' that their good friend was wearing it. it made jisung realize how important chenle was to the whole world...he really was a prince._ _

__the princes and guardians turned around to face chenle, and they all bowed down to their waists without hesitation. the orphans bowed, as well. jisung still looked up though while he did so. surprisingly, he wasn't caught off guard at everyone bowing at chenle, despite them all being older than him._ _

__jisung thought chenle truly fit as a prince very well, and he was proud. chenle held his head up high with maturity, and no smile on his face, but jisung felt happy...so it had to mean the prince was indeed happy._ _

__after a few seconds, everyone stood up straight and the princes and guardians turned around to face the orphans again. chenle sat down at his throne while everyone still stood._ _

__"so we'll just start right away then." ten spoke up. "starting with the orphans bounded to the golden skies of azure."_ _

__at that statement, lord moon taeil stepped up from the guardian line._ _

__"i'm taeil, if you guys didn't know." taeil casually waved at the orphans. "there's a lot of stuff you guys probably don't know about me...i'll tell you guys about it later though...if you uh wanna know."_ _

__jisung didn't memorize the azurian books a lot but he did remember the books mentioning moon taeil was very special, but never specifically explaining how...then he remembered that taeil literally wrote most of those books. was he really special then? and why didn't he make his section detailed like doyoung would with his own?_ _

__"thanks for that wonderful intro, taeil." ten slowly nodded. "but alright let's get to it...lee minhyung, go ahead and step up."_ _

__haechan immediately started clapping for his best friend as he stepped up. no one else followed so hyuck slowly stopped._ _

__once mark approached lord taeil, he quickly sat down criss-crossed in front of the azurian guardian as the orphans were instructed to do beforehand by doyoung during their practice. minhyung bowed his head before taeil, so everyone was only able to see the top of his white hair._ _

__"repeat the statements i say exactly, alright?" taeil spoke up. the guardian seemed so casual as if the process wasn't totally serious, but it made the orphans more comfortable for sure. mark nodded._ _

__"okay." taeil clapped his hands together, then he reached out to mark's head with his right hand and hovered above it._ _

__"i, lee minhyung, a neo orphan of garnet blood..." the angel started._ _

__mark repeated. "i, lee minhyung, a neo orphan of garnet blood..."_ _

__"...will wholeheartedly accept the wings of the purest feathers given to me from the oldest heavens; will carry the duty of spreading the warmth and cold from my body, through my voice; and to protect those worthy of my integrity and wit."_ _

__mark repeated those exact words very carefully without a stutter, surprisingly. once he did so, taeil muttered a few words under his breath that was probably in the ancient neo language. then, he placed his hand on top of mark's head and mark's whole body shook for a quick second, as if there was a big jolt that rushed through his body from top to bottom. the boy didn't seem fazed by it though, his eyes were simply closed._ _

__a few seconds later, something started glowing into existence on top of minhyung's head...a golden halo. transparent wings appeared on mark's back, as if they weren’t real, like the wings of a ghost. then they faded and the only thing that was different about mark was the halo on his head...until that faded as well._ _

__"your wings don't become physically real yet until the clouds accept you. so you can't fly yet, just saying." taeil explained. "but you are indeed full of golden blood now, congratulations, minhyung."_ _

__mark grinned as he stood up. "you can call me mark."_ _

__then the oldest boy of the group, now an actual azurian angel, turned to the rest of the orphans and grinned even wider. if the council wasn't here, jisung was certain mark would scream out loud. the rest of the boys all clapped though to show how proud they were of him._ _

__renjun's turn was the exact same, except renjun was obviously more serious when chanting the commitments. after him, was the last azure bounded boy, which was donghyuck._ _

__hyuck's process was also similar to mark's and renjun's; surprisingly, he was also very mature about the recitations. what was peculiar to jisung though, was that he noticed doyoung and jaehyun having a side conversation during hyuck's processing. jaehyun even tapped on lord youngho's shoulder for him to join in on whatever they were talking about, then they ended the conversation with nodding, right when haechan's halo glowed into existence._ _

__"congratulations, lee donghyuck, you are now a golden angel." taeil said with a simple smile._ _

__as expected, hyuck immediately got out of his seriousness and jumped up and down in excitement. he nearly tackled mark and renjun down when he grabbed them for a group hug. the three young angels smiled at each other, as the remaining orphans smiled at them too._ _

__ten respectively mentioned that the brine realm would be skipped because no one was going to join the silver seas this year. jisung looked at prince yoonoh, and to his surprise, yoonoh was shaking his head while grinning as if through sarcasm. lord youngho joined. _huh, brine people really are laidback._ _ _

__"introducing the final realm, for the orphans bounded to the bronze land of terra." ten said with genuine excitement, and bias._ _

__both lord qian kun and kim jungwoo stepped up to the center of the room. jisung wondered how this was going to work...was it necessary to have two guardians helping with the process?_ _

__"hello everyone, i'm qian kun." the blonde guardian waved at the orphans. "i used to be the main guardian of the whole neo forest but now i'm just the fauna guardian, which is basically the caretaker for the animals. i gave my flora responsibility to jungwoo here."_ _

__"hi, i'm kim jungwoo." jungwoo sweetly smiled at the boys. "it's been awhile."_ _

___he visited us yesterday._ _ _

__during their introductions, chenle stepped down from his throne and jisung didn't even notice until the green-haired prince immediately sat in front of kun. it made sense chenle would convert first._ _

__kun said the same thing taeil did, and he told chenle to recite the following: "i, zhong chenle, a neo prince of garnet blood, will wholeheartedly respect and embrace the nature that is terra; will use my magical ability for the good of others, as well as myself; and will overall, become the person who will humbly care for others more than myself."_ _

__without a doubt, jisung was more fond of the terra recitations out of the other realms, because it seemed more...genuine. he knew he would be serious when it was his turn._ _

__after chenle recited the sayings, kun knelt down before the prince and covered chenle's ears with his hands. the fauna guardian muttered something under his breath, and once he lifted his hands away, the top of chenle's ears were pointed like an elf's. kun also held chenle's hands for a few seconds, and immediately, vines coming from kun's hands wrapped around the younger boy's arms. the vines were supposed to represent a terrarian's devotions to taking care of the realm._ _

__after kun kindly congratulated chenle, the boy smiled to himself and turned around to his friends. jisung smiled back at him, and so did the others. then he returned to his throne._ _

__next up was the white-haired orphan, lee jeno. of course, when he approached the center, jisung noticed prince taeyong making a confused expression on his face. the pink-haired prince looked over at doyoung, and that's when doyoung shook his head at taeyong, implying that jeno wasn't an angel. taeyong nodded intently and smiled curiously._ _

__jeno sat in front of kun, smiling to himself as he bowed his head confidently. noticing the orphan's hair color, kun widened his eyes and looked at jungwoo while pointing in confusion. jungwoo grinned back at the fauna guardian and nodded at him with reassurance just like doyoung did to taeyong. kun casually shrugged and continued the process by kneeling in front of the white-haired boy and telling him to recite the phrases._ _

__moments later, jeno stood back up with elf ears and vines wrapped around his arms. jisung thought he looked the coolest because he honestly could've represented any of the realms with his features. jeno was truly unique._ _

__next was na jaemin who started to step up, until jungwoo spoke up._ _

__"oh uh, jaemin! you're not next, jisung is." jungwoo said with a simple smile on his face. this caused jaemin to almost stumble forward as he stopped. he was surprised, as was the other boys in line. jaemin was older than jisung, so he was supposed to be first...but they changed the order? this change even caused the princes and guardians to mutter amongst each other._ _

__knowing jaemin, jisung thought he would have said something, but jaemin just looked at jungwoo suspiciously and walked back to his spot in line._ _

__then that's when jisung realized it was his turn, because everyone looked at him._ _

__"jisung." kun called with a smile. jisung tilted his head in confusion but came forward anyway. _maybe they were giving jaemin something special for some reason? or...well i hope this isn't true, but maybe they were changing his realm?_ _ _

__jisung had to put those thoughts aside though, because now it was his moment to finally convert. jisung sat in front of kun and bowed his head as he repeated the recitation from the fauna guardian, quite nervously but accurately._ _

__when kun cupped his hands over jisung's ears, jisung didn't think he'd feel anything and he didn't...but he definitely heard something. he heard the sound of wind breezing through trees, literal birds chirping, even the sound of subtle waves meeting land...it was the sound of terra. it made his heart beat a little faster with excitement, he smiled._ _

__after his transformation, jisung reached for his ears and felt that they were pointed at the top. he thought it was cute._ _

__"congratulations, park jisung, you are now a part of the bronze land of terra." lord kun smiled at the younger boy. jisung smiled back and returned to the line, shaking hands with jeno._ _

__"well that's it for the conversion!" ten suddenly announced. jisung widened his eyes, as well as the rest of the boys. they all looked at each other in shock, especially jaemin._ _

__jaemin started to frown and he opened his mouth to speak, but then ten chuckled. "oh, i'm just joking!"_ _

__the guardians and princes snickered amongst each other while the younger boys nervously chuckled. jaemin had a smile on his face but it was obviously fake, he just blankly stared at ten._ _

__ten turned to the terra guardians and cleared his throat. "uh, okay finish up, my lords."_ _

__at that, jungwoo the flora guardian stepped up to the middle and smiled at jaemin. "i'll be converting you, jaemin."_ _

__jisung widened his eyes once again in surprise. jungwoo had the chance to convert someone even though he had been a guardian for only two years, which was very impressive. _why would jungwoo only be converting jaemin though? oh...could it be?_ _ _

__it seemed like jaemin was also confused but he walked towards jungwoo with confidence nonetheless. jisung looked at the other boys and they were grinning so much, especially jeno and renjun who were holding hands while anticipating their best friend's special conversion._ _

__jaemin kneeled in front of his fairy friend. before jungwoo told him about the recitations, he turned to the side to face both the ex-orphans and the royal council._ _

__"as you all know, i am the first guardian in centuries who is a fairy." jungwoo explained with a small smile. he adjusted his flower crown and added. "and well, we're quite endangered, you would say, because of how fragile we are. but i am still proud of the milestone i made representing the minority nonetheless."_ _

__" _wait i just realized what's happening._ " mark muttered. _ _

__"and i hope that i'll be able to bring back the many we were, step by step...and one by one." the blonde fairy continued. "because we were and still are the life of the forest."_ _

__kun smiled and silently nodded. ten rolled his eyes. "so!" jungwoo clapped his hands and grin grew wider as he looked down at the pink haired orphan. "na jaemin, if you could repeat after me, if you accept."_ _

__jaemin's mouth crept upwards into a sweet smile as he quickly nodded._ _

__jungwoo faced jaemin and chanted. "i, na jaemin, an orphan of garnet blood, will wholeheartedly respect and embrace the nature that is terra; will use my magical ability for the good of others, as well as myself; and will overall, become the person who will humbly care for others more than myself... _as a fairy of the forest._ " _ _

__jaemin repeated those exact words. then jungwoo basically transformed him the same way kun did for the other terra boys, so jaemin now looked like an elf. shortly after though, jungwoo took off his long cape that was adorned with all the flowers of the forest, and he slung it over jaemin. the vibrant cape suited his hair so beautifully._ _

__jungwoo muttered a couple of words as his forehead was pressed against jaemin's. then, he took the cape off of jaemin and put it back on. for a split second jaemin's whole body seemed to glow just like when doyoung had his wings, but instead of a white glow it was pink. then the glow dimmed down along with the tiny transparent wings he had that jisung didn't get to see clearly._ _

__jungwoo explained that jaemin couldn't transform into a full fairy until he was in the neo forest, and jaemin returned back into the line. jaemin looked at all of the boys with pure content. jisung thought jaemin would be a perfect fairy...playful, but definitely perfect._ _

__just as the terra guardians returned to their line too, ten walked to the middle. he faced the princes and guardians, grinning._ _

__"royal council, i present to you a promising group of this year's orphans...they will definitely make our realms a better place."_ _

__jisung knew that was probably scripted, because he doubted the elf knew them well enough to say that. nonetheless, the younger boy kept a smile on his face,_ _

__ten turned to the ex-orphans now._ _

__"boys, i hope you make the best of your new homes."_ _

__all the boys smiled at the mage with anticipation._ _

__"now that's the end of the conversion! princes, you guys can meet your newcomers and after that, guardians, you can lead them out into their realms." ten concluded, he started clapping and that's when everyone else joined._ _

__hyuck was of course the first one to cheer verbally. he cheered very loudly as if he held it in for so long. the other boys shrugged at each other and joined in with the angel. they all huddled into a group hug while the guardians and princes smiled at them and started discussing things amongst each other._ _

__in the huddle, all the boys were chuckling and full of glee._ _

__"don't forget about me!" jisung heard chenle exclaim behind them. they all grabbed the prince and pulled him into the group hug._ _

__"we really did it, huh?" mark smirked at the younger boys. they all grinned and nodded at each other._ _

__"yeah..." renjun answered. he was smiling but then suddenly, in a split second the smile shifted into a frown and he started to cry._ _

__"oh my sol, junie, why are you crying?" jaemin laughed as he wiped his best friend's tears. jaemin's eyes were also watery though._ _

__"yeah, what a crybaby." donghyuck teased the other angel...but the boy was also crying a river. mark patted his chest and grinned._ _

__"shut up..." renjun sniffled. "i just...hate you guys for not coming to azure with us."_ _

__jisung laughed and quickly wiped his own tears before the other boys noticed. "oh lighten up, renjun, you guys can always fly down to visit us."_ _

__renjun dramatically shook his head and whined. "ah, too much effort."_ _

__the other boys shook their heads. then they broke the hug and just stood in a circle, staring at each other. jisung wasn't completely sad that he was separating with the angels but he knew the change of not seeing mark, donghyuck, and renjun would be different._ _

__"we should definitely plan a hangout every weekend or something." jeno suggested. "that is, if you angels aren't going to be occupied too often."_ _

__"oh you'll see me around." haechan playfully swatted the air. "i'll be soaring around everywhere, all the time."_ _

__jisung imagined seeing hyuck in the sky all the time...it would be quite annoying but he would appreciate it a lot._ _

__"then it's settled." chenle clapped his hands together. "our friendship continues."_ _

__"you gonna be fine here all by yourself, lele?" jaemin raised his eyebrow._ _

__"of course." chenle smiled. jisung was sort of expecting for his best friend to look at him...but he noticed he was smiling at jeno instead. _hm?_ "i'll be fine, with a little bending of the rules." _ _

__jisung wasn't sure what that meant but jeno sure did because he smirked back at the young prince. before the boys could say another word, ten informed them to start grouping up with their guardians. jisung followed jaemin and jeno to join lord kun and jungwoo._ _

__"jisung."_ _

__the young elf turned to his best friend who called him. chenle nodded at him. "i'll see you out there."_ _

__jisung slowly nodded at him. _huh, i guess that's what he meant by bending the rules._ and jisung was totally fine with it. he turned around and continued to walk, with a smile on his face. _ _

__it seemed like all his worries about adapting into the terra realm wouldn't be so bad. jisung still had his best friend, and all his friends with him. the conversion was truly a success for him._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so that is the end of the ‘dreamie arc’ where i focused mostly on what it’s like to grow up in neo through dream’s perspectives. i hope you guys are familiar with the setting now, as well as background info! some of the dream characters are still considered main characters, but from now on there will be POVs of the older members! i’ll try to not make it confusing :’) let me know if it is later! as for now, let me know what you think about the setting, as well as the characters! is there anything you’re wondering? comment below! thank you<3 the plot will thicken soon...


	9. golden skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lee minhyung: azurian angel  
>  _now an angel, mark will finally go to azure with his other angel companions, haechan and renjun._

mark was surprisingly completely satisfied by the end of the conversion. he was nervous as hell while he recited his lines, but once he finished, he felt his confidence physically rise within him. he felt his back was 'lighter,' as if his wings were already there, lifting him up. he felt extremely content and more assertive of himself. perhaps the angel blood that now coursed through him had more impact than he thought. 

mark separated with his group of friends after an emotional set of goodbyes. he wasn't totally sad, because he knew he would try his best to see them often. he walked with haechan and renjun to meet the azurian guardian, moon taeil, who stood at the steps of the two neo thrones. his best friend slightly nudged him to get his attention. 

"hey...after the recitations, did you feel sick or something?" hyuck whispered, as he clutched his stomach. "i don't know why, but i honestly feel like throwing up." 

"uh nope, i actually feel the best that i've ever been." mark chuckled, but then his eyebrow perked up curiously. "why, you okay?" 

"hm." hyuck slowly nodded to himself. "yeah, it's probably nothing...maybe just the stale bread i had earlier. i swear, i'm glad we're finally getting out of here and eating somethin' new for once." 

mark laughed at the younger boy in agreement, as they reached where taeil stood, talking with prince dongyoung. the two royal angels turned to the new angels and smiled. 

"well well, look at you three." doyoung crossed his arms and grinned. he full on _grinned_ , which he had never done within the months he had been with the boys. it was always just nods of approval and very small smiles. "already looking like a set of the best angels out there. i can sense very happy souls within you all." 

"ohhh, that's why i felt very enlightened once we recited our commitments." renjun spoke up, nodding. "we were just given our first souls!" 

orphans were of course soul-less since they didn't belong to any realm when they were born. mark must've been given a soul of someone with great importance, because he himself felt very confident. 

"guess my first soul doesn't like me much..." hyuck made sure to mutter so only mark could hear, and after he did so, he immediately jumped at doyoung. "thank you for finally making us feel proud of ourselves for once!" 

and just like that, hyuck forced doyoung into a hug. _he really has no sense of boundaries..._

doyoung widened his eyes and showed his sense of discomfort, yet he didn't push hyuck off him. instead, he just let the younger boy's arms envelop him very tightly while rubbing his cheek into doyoung's arm. 

"all this because i smiled, huh? keeping that in mind..." doyoung nervously chuckled."don't thank me yet though...you boys have a lot to learn." 

then he managed to pull one of his arms out of haechan's grip and finally put in effort to pry the boy away from him. it honestly looked like he had never had close contact with another person before because he cautiously went for haechan's _face_ instead of his arms, slowly pushing the boy away. it successfully worked though, because hyuck released right away with a pout as he rubbed his forehead. 

"well, we're ready." mark gave the prince an assuring grin. renjun and hyuck followed. 

"as expected." doyoung nodded. "unfortunately, i have other duties to attend to, including notifying the other cloud tiers that new orphan angels have arrived, so lord taeil will take care of you three." 

ten already notified the boys about that so mark wasn't too nervous. if anything, to him, taeil seemed like a calmer angel compared to doyoung, so he was almost glad. the boys turned their attention to moon taeil, the angel with the oversized white wool sweater and white pants. 

taeil put his hand (sweater paw since the sweater was awfully big) next to his cheek, blocking his view of doyoung, and muttered. "and you three should be grateful...doyoung's way of introducing azure literally takes the whole day." 

"i'm literally right here." doyoung scoffed, crossing his arms. "and it _should_ take a whole day! how could you possibly take lesser time to absorb all the glory that is our realm?" 

"the right transportation, for starters." taeil crossed his arms, as well. "prince doyoung here doesn't allow younger angels to ride on pegasi so—" 

"wait, we get to ride on a pegasus?" hyuck interjected with his signature energy surge. 

mark and renjun were also full of anticipation. orphans weren't allowed to interact with any creatures from other realms, really. seeing a pegasus in the flesh would truly bring mark more into reality. 

"no, you boys will not!" doyoung exclaimed and widened his eyes at the guardian. 

"huh? who's the tour guide here, your majesty?" taeil raised his eyebrow and grinned triumphantly. 

it was surprising for mark to hear someone speak so casually to doyoung, but also very refreshing. it seemed like they were very close and it was probably so since they had lived in azure for centuries. 

doyoung looked at taeil for a few long seconds in thought, then he looked at the younger angels, as well. he sighed in surrender. 

"very well...but once they get on the clouds, i expect the pegasi to be returned to their stables immediately." doyoung instructed. "we can't let them imprint on a couple of kids." 

mark thought it would've been nice to have his own pegasus, but then again, there would be no use of it when they were going to get their own wings anyway. 

"of course." taeil casually made a swatting gesture with his hand. 

just as he did so, mark noticed two other royal council members about to pass by the angels. prince yoonoh and lord youngho of brine. 

mark's heart skipped a beat... _wait, i still have my heart?_ he'd probably have to say goodbye to it once the clouds accepted him. nonetheless, mark felt flustered seeing jaehyun up close, and _all up on doyoung._

jaehyun halted right behind prince doyoung and leaned over his shoulder quite seductively, _just_ to whisper in his ear. mark and the other boys were close enough to have been able to hear what the siren prince was saying to doyoung, but surprisingly it was completely inaudible, as if jaehyun was saying nothing. however, it was obvious doyoung heard _something_ because he immediately cracked a smile followed by a giggle. mark had never, _never_ thought he would ever hear such a happy sound from doyoung, but jaehyun definitely made him do that. 

as soon as the angel prince did so though, he quickly realized there was an audience and balled up his hand into a fist to clear his throat into. he stopped smiling and muttered to his boyfriend. "yeah okay, bye." 

despite the nonchalant response, jaehyun still smirked at his boyfriend, then he turned his attention to the other boys. he laid his eyes on mark for one full second before nodding to the rest. mark savored that second. 

"have fun in azure, boys. watch your step on those clouds though... _they're not so forgiving with wandering thoughts_." 

the boys laughed at the siren's subtle joke, while doyoung playfully rolled his eyes. it was refreshing knowing that jaehyun didn't take his past so seriously, even though it was about his infamous banishment from azure. 

"hyuckie boy!" youngho reached for hyuck's hand, and hyuck accepted it without hesitation. 

"johnny boy!" hyuck laughed, as the two performed a little handshake that caught mark by surprise. _how the heck did they have the time to make and remember one when they've only met last year?_

"catch you later." the brine guardian casually replied. 

"uh, sure?" hyuck laughed again, obviously taken back, but their interaction ended like that, because the two brinians were already passing by them. 

right afterwards, the terra council started to walk pass them. prince taeyong waved at all the angels, followed by jeno, jisung, and jaemin. the two terrarian guardians walked behind them. 

"oh, excuse me for a moment." doyoung quickly announced before only taking one step away from the angels. "lord jungwoo!" 

lord jungwoo immediately halted at the sound of his name, but he looked way more startled...knowing exactly who called him. mark and hyuck smirked to themselves, knowing this interaction would be quite entertaining. renjun merely grumbled under his breath. 

the elves stopped too but jungwoo gestured for them to exit the castle without him. then the flora guardian quickly turned around and faced the angel prince. "oh! hi, hello, prince dongyoung!" 

jungwoo fashioned a hesitant wave before looking at his hands and putting them behind his back as if not knowing what to do with them. that's when mark noticed his hands were shaking, _a lot_. 

"cute." mark muttered to hyuck. 

doyoung immediately flashed a polite grin, the second one of today. he could probably sense jungwoo's nervousness and it amused him. 

"i just wanted to apologize, on behalf of the azure royal council, for the lack of recognition we've given you as a guardian in the books." doyoung explained. 

then, to everyone's surprise, he _bowed deeply_ at the fairy. 

mark was astonished that doyoung would do such an act to a guardian, especially when the fault of jungwoo not being in the neo books was technically taeil's fault. doyoung took the blame instead, as taeil merely simpered in silence for some reason. 

once doyoung started bowing, quite quickly—and completely comically—jungwoo ducked his head so fast below the point doyoung was bowing at, as if he was dodging something. it was even funnier because he was also trying to look up at doyoung while making sure he was lower than him. 

"oh please don't do that—it's a-alright!" jungwoo exclaimed, nearly falling over. "i never really cared for recognition anyway, i've always been a wallflower—oh!" 

while the blonde fairy was talking, he was nodding his head way too low that his flower crown fell off his head. but before it could land on the ground, doyoung swiftly lunged forward and caught it with the hand that was just behind his back. angels were known for being very agile, but seeing the ability being used in front of mark made the situation less funny and more impressive. 

renjun still snickered beside him though, totally entertained. "such a klutz." 

with the beautifully delicate flower crown in his hand, doyoung stood straight up again and handed it back to jungwoo. "well, wallflowers shouldn't be in the shadows for so long, because they're awfully worth more, i hope you can agree." 

it seemed like doyoung pretended jungwoo's silly fumble didn't exist. he still kept a sincere smile to his face. and the thing he said seemed very flattering...almost too flattering to mark, _who knew the prince could be so charming_? 

jungwoo seemed completely flabbergasted, more than usual, slightly gaping. "yeah, yes o-of course." 

then doyoung softly chuckled. "i could definitely attest to that." 

he glanced at taeil and the azure guardian playfully rolled his eyes. it seemed like they were referring to doyoung becoming prince, because according to the book, he almost didn't have a chance at the crown, but the reason wasn't explained. 

doyoung stepped away from lord jungwoo and nodded at him. "until next time, lord jungwoo. i'll be sure to record more of your harvests, as well as new flower bloomings. i trust your work is well respected." 

jungwoo's eyebrows perked up with hope as he nodded quickly at the prince. 

then doyoung focused his attention on mark and the other boys. "i'll see you guys most likely tomorrow, i hope taeil treats you well." 

and with that, doyoung started walking towards the front door of the castle, instead of exiting through the skyline since it was closed. once the angel prince was out of earshot, jungwoo let out a very loud exhale, as if he had been holding his breath the whole time. 

"h-how was it through your guys' eyes?" jungwoo asked the other angels, breathing a little too heavily. "our interaction?" 

"more normal than expected." hyuck replied. "good job jungwoo, you can survive a conversation!" 

"hardly." renjun scoffed. 

"well whatever!" jungwoo swatted his hand in the air. he perked up with a huge smile across his face. "that still definitely made my day...man, that's probably the only interaction i'll ever have with him." 

"haha, we'll see." taeil snickered under his breath, causing jungwoo to gasp. 

"oh my sol, taeil, please tell me what you know!" the fairy guardian approached the angel with very sudden desperation. 

"you know the rules, jungwoo." taeil shrugged his shoulders cooly. mark was confused about what they were talking about, and it seemed like renjun and hyuck were perplexed, as well. "you'll just have to wait and see." 

"oh, the torture!" jungwoo grabbed his face with both of his hands quite melodramatically. then he dropped them from his face and wagged his finger at taeil. "i'm counting on you that next time will be better though." 

jungwoo started walking backwards toward the front door of the castle. 

"my mouth is shut, zeus." taeil warned him once again, with a grin on his face. 

jungwoo responded with a wink, then he said his final goodbyes to the rest of the angels. it seemed like the four boys were the only ones in the throne room now. 

"let's head out, guys." taeil declared as they started walking towards the entrance of the castle themselves. 

once they exited the castle. they stood at the front, just in front of the border of where the neo forest hugged around the castle, its grass being greener than the grass that surrounded their old home. 

"what was that about earlier? if you don't mind me asking." renjun decided to ask to relieve the silence, as well as his nosiness. 

"hm? oh, what i said to jungwoo?" taeil shrugged his shoulders casually. "just a lil insight of what'll happen in the future." 

"wait, what?" hyuck quickly turned to the guardian. "don't tell me...you can see the future?" 

"don't be ridiculous, hyuck." mark laughed at his best friend. it was very rare for anyone to have special abilities, and even so, it didn't seem as complex as 'seeing the future.' 

of course, they knew chenle had a similar ability, but they also knew that he had limits; he could only see blurry glimpses apparently, that were mostly hard to even interpret at all, including which eye it even came from. _how could taeil know specifically that doyoung and jungwoo would talk again? seems too easy._

"oh no please, be the most ridiculous you possibly can. i love being amused." taeil replied with a smirk. "but yes, i can see the future. through subtle signs though...did you not learn of this from the book?" 

"you barely wrote about yourself in your book, my lord." renjun softly chuckled. "i mean, we knew you had a special ability, but you very lightly covered what it was." 

"oh really?" taeil perked one of his eyesbrows upward, then nodded slowly. "yeah makes sense, it's a dread explaining what it is, and i like my privacy." 

taeil said the last part of his statement in a serious tone, causing the three younger boys to silently nod with respect. taeil looked up at them all and then he snickered. 

"i mean i like my privacy, but i don't mind you guys asking questions if you're curious." taeil added. "i'm not cutthroat like doyoung, don't worry, not all angels are like him." 

the younger boys started laughing and mark immediately felt more comfortable with taeil. he, as well as the other boys, learned that outsiders of the castle were wiser than them so they often were taught to be respectful nonetheless. even overly-prying people like hyuck and jaemin, knew their place...but once they were given a signal of comfort, they didn't hesitate to be themselves. 

"oh great, because i have a lot!" hyuck immediately exclaimed at taeil, and surprisingly, taeil didn't wince like doyoung would. he simply smiled back. 

"especially ones that doyoung won't answer but we'll deal with that stuff later." hyuck began to ramble. "anyway, what do you mean 'see the future?' like chenle's 'see the future'? or a different 'see the future?'" 

renjun shook his head at the talkative boy, but he didn't interrupt, because he was probably just as curious. 

"well, there's a lot of difference between chenle's ability and mine, which is why he sits on a throne and i don't." taeil responded, with no pettiness whatsoever. he seemed pretty chill about anything really, mark noticed. 

taeil started to explain. "prince chenle's more of an oracle, someone who creates prophecies through what he sees in his dreams. i'm more of a seer, someone who sees the future but through little signs created by nature at any given time." 

"ohhh, so it's even harder to interpret what you see compared to what chenle sees, huh?" mark asked. 

"kind of, it's mostly based on how much you practice, really." taeil replied. "since i've already lived for centuries, i can see things very quickly and can distinguish them as either signs or coincidence. chenle still has a lot to learn but it'll be easier for him later on in his life." "

how did you even get this ability? were you born with it?" renjun asked. 

"mm, those answers are probably the only things i'll keep private." taeil chuckled with no sign of offense. "but yeah, you can say i've had it for most of my life, same as chenle." 

mark noticed the look on renjun's face and he knew that it meant the boy was boiling with even more curiosity inside of him. however, he simply nodded, respecting the guardian. instead. even hyuck was compliant, probably because taeil was much calmer than doyoung; if it was doyoung, the younger boy would have no problem pressing him. 

"anyway, enough about me." taeil swatted the air. "we have a long day ahead of us, boys." 

the azure guardian put his first two fingers in his mouth and blew, producing an incredibly high-pitched whistle. the younger boys winced at that, but then they realized why he did that, and mark perked up. 

he heard the flapping of huge wings above them and his heart started beating fast. a big shadow casted over them and the thing that made it landed right in front of them, quite gracefully. it was a pegasus that pulled a golden chariot behind it. 

the pegasus was a glowing white and its wings were also white, but as they slowly moved up and down, the feathers had a slight glitter reflex of a periwinkle blue. what was even more intriguing to mark, was that there were golden flakes forming foreign shapes on the pegasus's body, just like there would be on an angel. shapes of swirls and lined patterns. 

the golden chariot it pulled up with was literally all gold, with indentations of people's faces on its walls. mark noticed one of the faces being doyoung's and right before his was the previous king, kim namjoon's. mark hadn't seen namjoon's face in years, and looking at an engraving of it now, made him miss the previous king. 

"gawk all you want, kids, but this is just the beginning of it." taeil interrupted their trance, causing the three boys to close their mouths after long seconds of gaping. 

the guardian approached the pegasus and simply kissed its forehead, causing the ethereal beast to blink calmly. "this is nebula, by the way. one of the royal pegasi we have in azure. she's mostly doyoung's but she favors me more...don't tell him i said that." 

the boys started to approach the divine horse but once hyuck reached to touch her, taeil interrupted. 

"and, just like doyoung, she doesn't like close interactions with people." taeil softly chuckled. "well, mostly of the younger generation, sorry." 

hyuck pouted as mark patted his back for comfort. 

"you'll see more pegasi up there who love affection though! so let's go and fly to your new home, shall we?" taeil exclaimed. " _venite volant._ " 

once taeil said those two words, nebula neighed loudly yet with perfect pitch as if singing. not only that, but taeil's feathery cape seemed to have transformed into two beautiful angel wings that spread outwards, nearly spanning as wide as nebula herself. they were very similar to doyoung's wings, very large and blinding but the distinct difference was that taeil's wings had a dark, almost obsidian black, glitter reflex that was odd to mark, but still beautiful nonetheless. 

"go ahead and board the chariot." taeil gestured to the chariot that shared all the faces of azurian princes. "and let's fly." 

and with that, taeil's wings fanned outwards once more and they struck down quite powerfully, creating a gust of wind that blew mark and the others away, literally and figuratively. whenever doyoung took flight, he was pretty graceful when doing so, but taeil didn't hesitate to literally shoot into the air. 

the azurian seer spun through the air with a simple smile on his face, it made mark very excited to grow his wings. he wanted to look free just like how taeil looked. 

"i guess we should catch up with him, huh?" renjun spoke up, looking up with complete awe. 

hyuck patted the boys' backs pretty hard and he grinned. "let's go, boys!" 

the three young angels hopped onto the chariot and once they did, nebula took flight immediately. mark clung onto the railing of the chariot to prevent himself from being thrown off, because nebula flew just as quickly as taeil did. 

they were only a few seconds in the air when mark started to grow fearful for some reason. he had never been off the ground before, and now he was going to live somewhere that had no literal ground at all. even though he was currently standing on a chariot, he was still scared. _imagine flying then...there would be nothing to catch me if i fell._

"oh god, i don't think i like this feeling." mark muttered. he had his eyes completely shut. "i thought i would but i don't." 

"oh come on, mark!" he heard his best friend yell. "it's freaking awesome!" 

"you don't have your eyes open, that's why." renjun suggested. 

slowly, mark opened his left eye, then his right. renjun was right. mark's doubts were gone immediately. 

mark looked at his surroundings, his beautifully open surroundings. they were currently in the middle of the atmosphere between terra and the clouds, and it was such a sight. the treetops of the neo forest looked greener than usual, and even brine seemed to glisten as they hovered over it. it was as if he was looking out the window of his room in the castle, except there was way more to see, and everything seemed better than the average eye. the wind that hit mark's face didn't seem so threatening anymore, but a cool welcoming. 

he laughed to himself. "wow, this is gonna be our life, guys." 

"yup." renjun nodded with a wide grin on his face. "man, jaemin and jeno would be so jealous of us right now if they saw this." 

just as renjun said that, taeil's winged body appeared beside the chariot. he flew on his backside as if he was laying down, but in the air. he had his arms crossed casually. 

"so now you know the feeling of what it's like to be up here." taeil began. "when you guys grow your wings, it'll almost be the same, except more tiring, of course." 

"completely worth it though, i'd say." mark chuckled. 

"truly." taeil agreed. "now are you guys ready to see your new home?" 

the boys nodded excitedly in response. 

"then, up we go." taeil gave them a thumbs up, then jerked his thumb upward, signaling nebula to fly higher. 

once the royal pegasus flapped her wings to climb higher into the sky, they were met with sparkling white clouds. 

mark expected to feel nothing when they soared through them, but he actually felt happier somehow. it caused a smile on his face. _azurian clouds were apparently magical, so maybe this was a part of it._ confidence surged through mark, just like it did when he converted. _maybe it was also my soul?_ he started to theorize that the soul could feel it coming back home again. 

after seeing pretty much nothing as they swam through the clouds, they finally ascended and were met with an even more spectacular discovery. their new realm, azure. 

mark finally saw the land of clouds, except not only clouds, but also buildings of gold. there were different levels of clouds and even smaller clouds that worked as steps that lead to even _more_ clouds. the houses of gold were built like temples, with rows of columns against the walls. 

there were also many winged creatures flying in the sky, like a plethora of different species of birds, free-roaming white and gray pegasi, and of course, other angels. some angels walked on the clouds while others spun in the sky holding instruments and wearing satisfying smiles on their faces. there was so many things to look at that mark was overwhelmed, but excited nonetheless. 

nebula gently landed with the chariot. there would have been silence if it wasn't for taeil who landed right in front of them. 

"welcome to azure, young angels." taeil said. hyuck didn't hesitate to cheer loudly. renjun and mark grinned at each other. 

"well, actually, stepping out of the chariot would officially welcome you to azure." taeil added, since they all still stood inside the chariot. 

"wait...it's okay if we do?" mark asked. 

"well, we did already convert." renjun replied. 

"yup. that was your first test that you three passed." taeil said as he gestured towards the white surprisingly soft floor. "now here's your next one." 

mark started to hesitate in his mind. he knew that the clouds wouldn't except anyone who was 'negative' so he tried his hardest to think of positive things. _okay uh...getting wings...flying...messing around with hyuck..._

just as he was about to step off the golden chariot, hyuck pushed passed him and jumped right out. 

"woo!" hyuck exclaimed, as he safely landed on the cloud with both feet. "easy peasy!" 

renjun scoffed beside mark. "well, if _haechan_ passed then..." 

the younger boy casually hopped off as well, and landed safely. now it was mark's turn. 

he inhaled and exhaled calmly. _angels are confident._

mark stepped off with his left foot, and he quickly felt support under it. then he put both feet on the cloud and with a relief, the clouds seemed to have accepted him. 

"as expected." taeil nodded at mark. then he clapped his hands together. "okay now, before i give you guys a tour inside the castle, we have to do a little lesson." 

"wait, where's the castle?" renjun questioned. taeil nudged his head forward in response. 

the boys turned around to see an incredibly tall tower standing right behind them. it was definitely taller than the neo castle, but it didn't seem as spacious. mark didn't want to judge right away though, it was probably more spectacular on the inside. 

"now let's walk a little bit up ahead." taeil spoke up once again. his wings turns back into a feathery cape and he started to walk away from the boys and the tower. the younger angels followed behind. 

after observing his surroundings more in awe for a few minutes as they walked, mark noticed taeil halt in his tracks so he focused his attention to the guardian again. 

"so here, we have the edge of azure, obviously." taeil said. 

the boys stood beside the guardian and looked down. _yup, definitely the edge._

looking down, mark could see the dark blue depths of brine. beautiful, yet mysterious. 

"the edge of azure? this realm must be pretty small then." hyuck commented. 

"sometimes it is." taeil answered. "usually in the summer, the clouds are often reduced, so we can't expand. but in the winter we can spread from all of terra, almost to the end of brine's safe zone. i prefer elevated levels though, they're much easier to maintain." 

the boys understandingly nodded. 

mark could tell brine had to be the biggest realm out of the three, and from up here, he could also tell it was probably even harder to maintain than azure. he was glad he now lived somewhere that was contained, contained yet still free, unlike the neo castle. 

"so what's our lesson?" renjun asked. 

"well, it's actually just a little task i have to do, honestly." taeil chuckled. "doyoung told me to wait at the edge because he was going to give me your guys' scroll." 

"scroll?" mark questioned. 

"a confirmation scroll." taeil replied. "to confirm that you guys should stay in azure." 

"wait...what?" renjun widened his eyes. "i thought...i thought the conversion was basically our confirmation?" 

"yeah, that was what i thought too." taeil chuckled once again. "but all in all, the decision lies with the prince, and you guys should know this about doyoung...he changes his mind a lot." 

that made mark panic for what seemed like the hundredth time today. _doyoung couldn't just kick someone out of azure before they even started to live here...could he?_ and he started to feel like he could get kicked out, for a reason mark wasn't sure of, but he just felt _something_ bad was going to happen. 

"so what you're saying, is that even though we converted, and literally have gold blood, we can still get the boot?" hyuck spoke up. 

"oh i hope you guys aren't too worried about this." taeil replied, swatting the air casually. "it's very rare for anyone to get kicked out once they've committed." 

"but it's possible." renjun interjected. 

"well sure." taeil snickered. "if you've made doyoung mad before or something." 

this made mark and renjun widen their eyes. they slowly turned to donghyuck who also looked tense. the younger boy noticed their stares. 

he nervously chuckled. "why are you guys looking me like that? doyoung loves me!" 

mark gave his best friend an encouraging smile that was awfully small but present. _what if...doyoung kicked hyuck out? what would happen?_

"ah! there it is." taeil interrupted his thoughts. mark looked up to see a big bird folded out of parchment fly in front of taeil. once the azurian guardian reached out his hand, the bird began to roll itself up into a light brown scroll. 

taeil faced the three boys and unrolled the scroll. mark's heart started beating fast. he was nervous...for them all, really. doyoung didn't fully connected with them throughout the weeks he was with them, so who knew what he thought of them...if they were worthy to be angels or not. 

taeil nodded. "okay, so i don't feel like reading this all but i definitely see names." 

that made mark less nervous. okay more than one person was confirmed...hopefully all three? 

taeil looked up at them from the scroll. "what's your name again?" 

he was looking at haechan. 

"lee donghyuck." hyuck said rather nervously, which made mark more nervous again because his best friend rarely ever was. 

taeil's eyes retreated back onto the writing on the scroll. "mhm...you're not on here. sorry." 

mark felt his heart drop, or whatever was left of it. 

"you...you're kidding." hyuck scoffed. "c'mon, taeil." 

taeil shook his head. "i wish i was, but apparently you're not fit to be an angel." 

"but, isn't he already technically an angel?" renjun interjected, which caught mark by surprise. even renjun was upset hyuck got rejected. 

"half." taeil answered. "you guys don't transform fully until tomorrow." 

"so, what? i just-can't stay here?" hyuck asked. mark could tell he was upset, almost mad. 

"nope." taeil simply answered. "and don't be so upset, donghyuck, trust me. if you aren't fit to live here, then you physically can't. your soul will reject you and you'd feel dreadful here." 

"wait...is that why i've been feeling sick since the conversion? it feels like my soul doesn't like it here." hyuck replied. 

taeil cocked his head intriguingly at hyuck's response. the guardian looked at the scroll once again. 

"ah, i see." taeil rolled up the scroll and crossed his arms. he had a smirk on his face. "it seems like a soul from a different realm connected with you." 

"that's...possible?" mark spoke up. 

"it rarely happens." taeil explained. "i think this hasn't happened in centuries, but it's possible. if a soul fights hard enough that it feels like it belongs with the person, then it will definitely connect with them." 

that snippet of information fascinated mark. someone's soul fought other souls to connect with hyuck? well of course he didn't doubt that, he just thought it was awesome. 

"so what realm did the soul belong to? do you know?" hyuck asked taeil with a sudden surge of curiosity. 

"it would make more sense for me to ask _you_ that, hyuck." taeil smiled. "we're at the edge of azure. look down, how do you feel?" 

hyuck stared at taeil for a few seconds, before he slowly looked down. they were thousands of feet high from brine, and brine was the only thing they could see. 

"i feel like i want to jump off." hyuck simply answered. 

"hyuck!" renjun exclaimed in shock. mark was also very caught off guard by that response. 

"i'm serious, jun." hyuck started to chuckle softly. "i mean like, i want to dive in." 

"then that's your answer." taeil said. 

"brine...i belong in brine?" hyuck questioned, but he was looking away as if thinking thoroughly. then he looked up at the guardian once again. "so what if i do? do i have to convert again?" 

"not necessarily." taeil shook his head. "you...do what you felt like you wanted to do." 

now this was when mark had to step in. 

"oh no. you are _not_ about to let hyuck jump off azure into brine." mark scoffed. "like, what?! we're thousands of feet high up!" 

"and not just that." renjun added, with a gloomy expression. "isn't it possible the ocean might not even accept him?" 

renjun's realization drained the color out of mark's face. everyone knew that brine was invincible and dangerous if you weren't a mermaid or marine creature. _you could die if you touched it...hyuck could..._

"nothing wrong with a leap of faith, right?" taeil shrugged. 

"yeah...what's the worse that could happen?" hyuck played along. 

"you'd turn into sea foam, donghyuck." renjun responded seriously. "no one has ever survived trying to dive into brine, no one except—" 

"one." hyuck finished the older boy's sentence. then he started shaking his head. "yeah i don't know, taeil...i'm too young to die, man." 

"hm, i don't know, hyuck." taeil squinted his eyes at haechan with disbelief. "i don't think that's what you're worried about the most." 

taeil must have sensed hyuck was lying about something, but mark couldn't put a finger on it. if turning into sea foam wasn't his main issue, why did hyuck not want to go to brine? 

hyuck's eyes widened, as if he felt exposed. mark notice his eyes flicker to him for a second but then they stared back at taeil. 

"i'm not going. you can't make me." haechan declared. 

"as a matter of fact, i can." taeil replied with a very chill expression. "either you do it willingly, or the clouds give way, and it'll happen pretty quickly when they start realizing you got rejected." 

hyuck pursed his lips and furrowed his eyebrows inwards in frustration. 

"he did say you would be miserable if you tried staying here, hyuck." renjun mumbled. 

"no i wouldn't. i know i wouldn't." hyuck disagreed almost immediately. 

that was when mark realized his reason for being so persistent. _i'm so slow._

mark turned to taeil. "there has to be another way. maybe we can ask doyoung if he knew how to like—i don't know—remove his soul or something and replace it with an angel's?" 

mark's suggestion made taeil laugh out loud. "if only it was that easy, mark, but you can't change fate." 

that statement made _hyuck_ laugh now. "so, 'fate' wants me to jump off?" 

"the sea calls." taeil smiled at the younger boy. "you weren't hesitant to jump off the chariot, were you? it admires confidence. and who knows...maybe you'll meet more friends down there. they're all super extroverted to a fault." 

hyuck didn't say a word, he just stared at taeil. 

mark felt so helpless...he wanted hyuck to stay, but there was no way. and most importantly, he didn't want him to jump off with the chance of not surviving. 

"this-this is crazy." mark shook his head and rubbed his face in frustration. "can we really ensure that he'll make it?" 

taeil looked at the three boys curiously, then he landed his eyes on hyuck who was still staring at him like he was trying to read his mind. the guardian cocked his head to the side. 

"one way to find out. _cadere_." 

mark only got to see hyuck's shocked expression on his face, his eyes looking right at mark, before the cloud particles below him gave way, and he dropped out of sight. the only sound that was heard was hyuck's shrill screaming that grew smaller and smaller. 

"HYUCK!" both mark and renjun simultaneously shouted. mark knelt down to where hyuck stood, which was now a hole in the cloud. right when he looked through it, he could see a splash spewing out from the ocean, but no hyuck. 

renjun also knelt down beside mark to look down at brine, for any sign of their friend. he wasn't surfacing. mark was looking frantically at the water but he could see nothing. the ocean was too dark now, as if it changed its mood once it detected an intruder. mark looked up at taeil with fear in his eyes. 

"you-you killed my best friend." mark nearly said in a whisper. 

the guardian seer had an amused smirk on his face. mark almost hated how too mysteriously chill taeil seemed about everything, especially about what he just did to haechan. 

he shook his head at the boys. "man, you guys are really pessimistic for kids...seems like even doyoung believes in your friend more than you do." 

that statement almost made mark feel ashamed of himself...of course hyuck was courageous enough to be a part of brine. it still didn't mean they could just let kids drop through clouds though. 

"well, if that's so, then where is he?" renjun asked, his eyebrows furrowed inward. 

"it takes awhile to transform into a siren, i reckon." taeil answered thoughtfully. 

renjun and mark looked at each other with widened eyes. _how could we be so clueless?_ mark should have remembered that angels could turn into sirens when they attempted to join brine. it was so rare though. like they had mentioned before...only one survived. 

"holy...of course." renjun mumbled. "the only one who survived a dive was prince jaehyun." 

there was only one siren in neo to ever exist. and thinking about it now, mark realized there were many hints hyuck would go to brine during the conversion. mark remembered johnny and jaehyun suspiciously talking during hyuck's recitation, and then he recalled the brine guardian implying he'd see hyuck later. they knew he would become a siren. 

that didn't calm mark whatsoever. he didn't care if hyuck was the bravest boy in the world, it still wasn't cool to experiment on him, but he couldn't argue now. he needed to make sure his best friend was okay. 

"i need to get down there." mark declared. 

"we can't fly yet." renjun replied. 

ignoring what the younger boy said, mark stood up and looked at taeil with a serious expression. 

"i'm not gonna piggy back you if that's what you want." taeil snickered. 

mark shook his head in frustration, he thought taeil would give some form of help, but guessed not since apparently the situation didn't seem serious to him. mark looked down at the white floor beneath him. maybe he could order the cloud somehow? 

it seemed liked taeil knew what he was thinking because he interjected. "only royalty can control the cloud—" 

" _descendere_!" mark exclaimed immediately. 

to his surprise, the part of the cloud mark was on started disconnecting itself from the main body. he was now on a separate cloud from taeil and renjun, starting to descend down towards the ocean. the two angels just stared at mark in awe, but the boy didn't have time to think about how he could control the cloud by himself. he looked down at where hyuck dove in. 

mark was now hovering inches away from the calm ocean. he was almost tempted to touch the water but resisted, and instead stared at his dark reflection on its surface. 

"please hyuck, please be alive." mark mumbled to himself. mark wasn't about to start mourning because he had faith his friend would be alive, despite taeil's accusations of his doubt. mark just _felt_ that he couldn't have been dead. 

and just when he was thinking of ascending to meet taeil and renjun again, he noticed a few bubbles rise from the surface of brine. then suddenly, something abruptly emerged from the water, causing a huge splash that almost hit mark but barely missed the cloud. it was a person whose shirtless back was facing mark, but the angel knew who it was immediately. 

mark produced a huge grin right away. "haechan." 

hyuck, whose hair seemed to have changed from white to silver, turned around and grinned back at mark. "hey!" 

"hey? that's all you can say?" mark scoffed and rubbed his face stressfully. "on sol, we thought you died, dude." 

"wow, doubtful much?" hyuck replied. "i mean, i nearly suffocated for a whole minute but i managed." 

the boy pointed at his neck, gesturing a new feature he acquired, which were three slits on the sides of his neck. 

"gills." mark widened his eyes. "that's...cool." 

"yeah, well they're supposed to be temporary i think...a siren's supposed to be fine without them." 

"oh, so you know?" 

"a few mermaids down below just told me." hyuck grinned. "and i feel so damn excited! see i could curse down here too!" 

mark couldn't help but chuckle at how hyuck radiated so much happiness in a matter of seconds. sure, he had always been energetic but it seemed like brine hyuck was definitely a better version. 

"you're the second siren _ever_ , dude." mark smiled. "i'm truly happy and excited for you. this is going down in history." 

"yeah, lucky i was the test subject that finally survived." hyuck scoffed sarcastically. "i just know taeil's gonna make it sound way more amazing and heroic in the books, than what actually happened...which i don't mind at all." 

haechan chuckled, then almost immediately, he lowered his head and wiped his face with his hand. at first, mark thought he was just getting water out of his face...but then he noticed hyuck's sudden and very upset expression. 

mark leaned forward, while making sure he wouldn't accidentally dive into the water. "hyuck, are you...are you crying?" 

"w-what? don't be silly, minhyung." haechan sniffled. he looked up and his eyes were definitely wet. he also had a pout on his face. "i'm just...not used to all this salt in my eyes. from the water. not tears." 

mark smiled thoughtfully at his best friend. he didn't feel like crying at all for some reason. sure, he was sad haechan couldn't live with him in azure but...maybe they had something to learn here. 

"maybe we need this. we need to be more open to other people." mark suggested. 

"you're-you're breaking up with me, mark?" hyuck gasped, as he sniffled and wiped his tears away. 

"oh shut up, you know what i mean!" mark exclaimed. "i just...don't want this to be a goodbye for us. it shouldn't be, so stop crying." 

hyuck widened his eyes in surprise, then gave mark a playful salute. "yessir." 

mark looked at hyuck amused. "we should try our best to see each other at least everyday, or once a week." 

hyuck nodded. "everyday." 

"alright..." mark nodded back. 

hyuck gave mark a small yet sweet smile. then he looked down into brine. "well, i guess i should head back and meet johnny like he said i would." 

mark looked down into the ocean, as well. that was when he noticed haechan's legs. they were already bound together and scaly but he could still tell they were two legs that were probably going to form into a mermaid tail very soon. 

"you know how to swim already? especially with that?" mark gestured with his head. 

"actually it's not that bad!" hyuck shrugged. "i mean don't watch me leave but i'm improving...also apparently my tail's gonna be orange. not my color, but i'll see if they can change it somehow." 

mark laughed. "alright dude, whatever makes you happy." 

hyuck looked at the older boy and smiled. "...yeah. i'll see you tomorrow." 

hyuck lifted his hand from the water and reached out to mark. mark held his hand and they shook on it. the water singed against mark’s hand a little but it didn’t faze him. he smiled. 

and with that, hyuck swam away deeper into the depths of brine. hyuck seemed wrong about not swimming well, he looked as natural as someone who had always been a mermaid...a siren. mark was truly excited to see hyuck grow and become something special to neo. he started to wonder if _he_ could ever be special to the world. maybe he could. 

the angel looked up to the golden skies, his new home. he hoped this was just the beginning of a fun journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! sorry for being inactive, i had a bit of a struggle with motivation but i’m back now :) i hope this chapter interested you! because there are many hints i put in that are for the future...ask me anything! thank youuu
> 
> twt: dojaeciub


	10. land of the free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> zhong chenle  
>  _the neo prince finally has a chance to get out of the contained space that is his castle. what will he find beyond his 'safe zone'?_

after contemplating over the decision during pretty much the whole conversion, chenle was finally going to do it. he decided to take jeno's advice about his freedom, but to a minor extent. to just be free for at least a day...to be chenle and not the prince of neo. 

at the end of the conversion, he was supposed to stay inside the castle as usual, but right as he saw the terra guardians, as well as his elf and fairy friends, beginning to leave, he snuck along the side of the wall and exited with them. 

they stopped right in front of the castle, in between the building and the neo forest, while chenle hid behind the opened door. 

prince taeyong turned around to face the younger boys and began to explain. "okay so we have plenty of things to show you boys in terra, since our realm is the biggest out of the three...if you don't count brine's restricted part of the ocean, of course." 

"looks like we have...jeno, jaemin, and jisung, in total, correct?" kun counted the boys off. 

that was chenle's cue to make his appearance, he was too lazy to try to hide anyway. "and chenle." 

everyone turned around and as expected, they all produced surprised expressions on their faces. 

"c-chenle." jisung was the first to call out. his pointed ears perked up. "what are you doing out here?" 

"joining you guys for the tour." chenle shrugged with a small smile. his answer made jisung, jeno, and jaemin grin with joy. 

"my apologies, prince chenle, but what is the purpose of your participation?" the terra prince, taeyong, interjected politely. "you're well aware that you're not even supposed to be allowed outside the castle, correct?" 

chenle had always looked up to taeyong, almost like a big brother— _way better brother than sol if we actually were_ —so he was very comfortable with being honest with him. chenle glanced at jeno for a second though, as if looking for reassurance from the boy who encouraged him to do this in the first place. the white-haired boy kept his smile and nodded at the younger boy. 

chenle cleared his throat. "i'd like to uh...circumvent the rules for once in my life." 

"and by circumvent, you mean break." jaemin spoke up, with a smirk on his face. 

"um," chenle started wagging his finger and nervously chuckled. "if 'bend' is a simpler word for you, nana, then it's more like bend." 

jaemin playfully rolled his eyes. 

"that's how it starts." ten invited himself into the conversation, shaking his head. "throne abandonment." 

it was almost as if ten said it with a tease though, because he didn't seem serious at all. nonetheless, chenle was flabbergasted at him for thinking he would start abandoning the castle like sol, just for wanting to see terra this once. 

"woah there." chenle scoffed. "i just...want to see the sights. i'm _not_ like sol." 

"mm yeah ten, it does not seem like that at all..." animal guardian kun spoke up. "but i still don't think we should let you, chenle...without the king's permission." 

everyone knew lord kun always obeyed the rules, so it was expected, but it caused chenle to roll his eyes. 

_well would you like to contact him, kun?_ chenle spoke in the guardian's head, while also making sure the others heard. the prince often did this when he didn't have the energy to talk too much, sometimes he spoke to people with his mind more naturally than talking aloud. chenle's friends chuckled at his unspoken sarcasm. 

kun stared at the prince blankly. it was unlike kun to ever show any form of negative emotions, so instead he looked very calm. it was almost unsettling, but then the fauna guardian gave the younger boy a small nod. 

"i suppose i can't...and i don't mind another person wanting to see this beautiful realm so..." kun mumbled. he turned to look at taeyong for his answer, since it really wasn't up to the guardian in the first place. 

but before taeyong could say anything, ten intercepted once again. 

"y'know, maybe it does make sense to just let the prince roam with us." ten began. "this could boost his knowledge, thus strengthening his position as a...mini-ruler." 

chenle squinted at ten with suspicion. "but didn't you just—" 

"oh, it was merely just a test! you seem to have good intentions." ten swatted his hand in the air. "who could say no to a kid exploring for educational purposes? isn't that right, yongie?" 

taeyong stared at ten as if he was weirded out by him, which was also an expression shared by chenle, as well. ten was often erratic whenever he spoke but this was odder than usual. chenle wondered what had changed his mind so quickly, but nonetheless, went with it anyway, as long as it meant he could convince taeyong lele could stay. 

the pink haired prince eventually sighed, then gave chenle a small smile. "well, i guess it wouldn't hurt us that much since it's only for a few hours...just make sure you're with us at all times, my prince." 

chenle grinned at the older boy. "yes, sir." 

chenle looked at his friends who smiled back at him. he spoke in their heads. _can't get rid of me that easily._

jisung laughed and slung his arm around chenle. "bummer." 

the young boys all faced taeyong once again to wait for further instructions. 

the prince put his hands behind his back and nodded at all of them. "so, let's start this tour then—" 

but before taeyong could continue, the fairy guardian, jungwoo, appeared from behind them. "phew, i'm back! what did i miss?" 

"well we were just getting started..." taeyong sighed at another sudden interruption. surprisingly though, he smirked at the fairy. "but what did _we_ miss?" 

the boys turned to the flora guardian for an answer. before leaving the castle, chenle caught a glimpse of jungwoo and doyoung interacting with one another. he didn't think it was significant though, so he wondered why the others seemed extremely curious. ten looked like he could care less though, he was the only one nonchalantly examining his black painted nails. 

"oh, psh, nothing really..." jungwoo casually swatted the air, but couldn't seem to shake off the wide grin off his pretty face. the flowers in his hair seemed to glow brighter in the sun. "just the fact that prince doyoung formally _apologized_ to me!" 

"oh wow, an apology from mr. pompous himself?" jaemin spoke up with a smirk. "i mean i knew the reason was significant but i didn't think he was actually capable of such an action." 

"oh please show some respect, nana." prince taeyong lightly scolded. it made sense for him to quickly defend his longtime friend. "he's way more humble than you think." 

jaemin responded by raising his eyebrows and averting his eyes in disbelief. jeno pursed his lips with disappointment at his best friend. 

"well, i'm glad they'll finally give you some credit now, jungwoo." kun smiled at his guardian counterpart. "you deserve it for all the work you've done for this realm." 

"thank you, kun!" jungwoo smiled. "this is _definitely_ a memorable moment for me." 

of course, ten entered the conversation with a loud scoff. "yeah, _totally_ because you're getting credit for the bare minimum of waiting for little flowers to grow and _not_ because of the _fan meet_ itself. now let's carry on, shall we? we'll be sure to hear more of this interaction for like, two more weeks anyway." 

and with that dramatic statement, without breathing between the words whatsoever, ten stormed off. it caused the younger boys to snicker. jungwoo joined in as expected because he never took ten seriously. 

"oh he's so jealous." the fairy commented, then he skipped after the mage and exclaimed. "and of course, you'll be the first to hear all about it, ten! everyday!" 

taeyong shook his head. "i hope you guys know we're way more mature than this...on duty." 

kun patted the prince's back and nodded. " _we_ are, at least. that's all that should matter." 

the prince and fauna guardian turned around and walked the direction ten and jungwoo headed to. the younger boys followed with silent excitement. 

they walked through the neo forest which was honestly not as special as chenle expected it to be. sure he had never seen so many trees like this before, but he was already getting bored of it. perhaps summer wasn't the primetime for the forest to look its prettiest, hopefully autumn would change it aesthetically. 

"so are we just starting in the neo forest?" jeno asked. 

"we usually save it for last since there's way more to terra than that." taeyong explained. "roughly half of terra's population inhabits the forest...we'll be showing you all where the other half live." 

chenle was surprised to hear that not everyone lived in the neo forest, because all he could see from the castle were trees. _where else could the others have lived?_ the prince kept his questions in his mind as he and the other boys followed taeyong down a path through the forest. 

"seems like all there is are trees though." jisung spoke up. chenle knew he could count on his best friend to share the same level of curiosity, except the younger boy wasn't ashamed of being unknowledgeable unlike the prince himself. 

"it may seem like that." kun admitted. "but we assure you that not all of us like climbing and sleeping on branches." 

"i can attest to that." ten replied from the front of the group. "i don't understand how some of us live without knowing the comfort of a wool bed." 

"easy for you to say since you can actually _fit_ on one." jungwoo snickered. 

"well you see, zeus, i wasn't actually including your species in the first place so." 

"oh, you're so silly!" 

ten and jungwoo began to bicker once again, ten quite caustically while jungwoo more jokingly. 

"the reason why some elves don't sleep on trees anymore...is it because you guys have become more resourceful?" jeno asked. 

jeno seemed to be asking a lot of questions, despite having read the _history of terra_ book a million times...well, that was what everyone else thought, chenle realized. it made sense for him to be even more curious. _since he was reading...something else._

taeyong nodded at the white-haired elf. "sure, i guess that's one way to put it. it's more like compromising with nature." 

"they generously give us some of their plant resources, as well as animal materials, and we just spend most of our time tending to them in return." kun explained. "a kind trade." 

"seems pretty smart to do." jaemin nodded. "everyone is satisfied." 

"yup, all realms do it, really." taeyong continued. "azurians negotiate with the sky by serenading it, asking for specific weather conditions. brinians befriend the sea animals to share food resources and protect each other from bigger predators." 

"and then all realms work together by sharing what they've traded." kun added. 

by just that brief explanation, it seemed like the world was simpler than chenle thought, which made him relieved. maybe it wouldn't be so hard for him to maintain it as a prince, as long as everyone was getting along. 

"ah, and here we are." taeyong announced after a few more minutes of walking through the quiet neo forest. 

"still in the middle of acres of trees." jaemin blatantly examined. 

"not for long." taeyong smiled. 

he gestured towards ten and ten nodded back at him. the mage then walked in front of a tree that stood in the way of the path and was bigger than the other trees, chenle just noticed. ten spoke a command that couldn't be heard clearly, but nonetheless made the tree sway as if wind was blowing when there was no wind at all. 

when ten stepped aside, there seemed to be a hole in the tree now that was roughly shaped the size of a doorway. it seemed to be pitch black inside so chenle couldn't see anything in it. 

"after you, younglings." ten stretched his arms out towards the tree doorway, gesturing jeno, jaemin, jisung, and chenle to enter. 

surprisingly the three boys looked at chenle at the same time, as if wanting him to go in first. this made the neo prince chuckle, as he obligately started to walk towards the tree. he did have to set an example anyway. 

chenle momentarily stood in front of the tree. he noticed the hole was slightly shorter than him so he slightly bent down, but before he could enter, ten spoke up. 

"ooh, is the darkness a bit spooky for you?" ten snickered. chenle looked at him completely unamused, which led ten to sigh. "...i was kidding, just go in." 

chenle walked into the tree and was bathed in immediate darkness. unlike what ten assumed, chenle wasn't frightened by a longshot...it was hard for the prince to be afraid of anything, really. especially darkness. he was always met with it through prophecies and just by closing his working eye. now the darkness he experienced during his visions, was a different story for another time. 

what chenle was worried about though, was what to do next. he reached in front of him to feel whatever what was around him but it was just more space. then he felt someone bump into him from behind, almost causing him to fall. 

"oh shoot, sorry, lele." he heard his best friend, jisung, mutter. 

then right as he spoke, jisung bumped into him again. 

"hey." chenle spoke up this time. 

"that wasn't me! jeno did it." jisung replied _right_ as he bumped into the prince one more time. 

"ya, what's the hold up?" chenle could hear a distant voice yell, to which he could easily identify as jaemin's. 

"give me a second, i'm trying the feel my way through." chenle exclaimed back. 

"it's not some kind of test or trap, lele." jeno said. 

chenle was bumped again. he rolled his eyes and kept waving his arms in front of him. _how hollow is this tree?_

"would they trap us in here?" jisung replied. 

"they will if we stay in here for too long." jaemin emphasized. 

"jaemin, i will literally—" chenle was just about to threaten him until the prince was shoved more aggressively, causing him to trip over himself and fall completely forward. 

he expected to hit the ground, but instead hit some kind of wall with the palms of his hands. the wall completely gave way like a door and as it opened, the boy was met with immediate sunlight. that was when he hit the ground face first. 

and to just make matters more painful, it seemed like the other boys toppled on top of the little prince. all of them groaned simultaneously. 

_i hate you guys so much._ chenle voiced in his head, making sure he was loud enough to cause ringing in their heads which was successful because the three boys groaned more. 

as soon as they got up, they helped the prince up—while laughing at how disheveled he looked—and that was when prince taeyong, the two guardians, and ten appeared from the hollow tree. 

"see, i told you we should have it lit up in there." ten said, looking at the prince and lord kun. 

"i tried but the fireflies don't like being in there for too long." kun sighed. 

"well we'll figure it out later." taeyong swatted the air and turned his attention to the younger boys. he smiled quite excitedly at them. "so what do you think?" 

"well, yes i do agree some lighting would be nice." chenle replied, rubbing his forehead and readjusting his crown. 

"well yeah, but that wasn't what i was talking about." taeyong softly chuckled. "i meant about what's behind you...the core of terra." 

the prince gestured behind chenle, and that was when he realized he didn't even notice what they entered into before being shoved to the ground. he finally turned around to see what taeyong was excited for them to see. 

and truly it was a sight that made chenle drop his jaw, as well as the other three boys. 

what chenle saw in front of him was finally a setting different from what they had been seeing. the space was indeed filled with more trees, and not the tall skinny trees they had been seeing, but a different species of trees that were humongous in both width and length; three trees combined could probably make up the size of the neo castle itself. 

at the top, each tree had branches that abnormally spread outward in all directions, eventually curving upwards to make a spherical space at the trunk. the spheres seemed to be rooms that could fit a few people inside and the branches made it look like bars with a few inches of space in between, eventually interwining together at the top and spewing out small evergreen leaves. basically, strangely shaped tree houses, and there were about a few hundred of them that chenle could see. 

"amazing." jisung was the first to speak. 

"how...how do you even get up there?" jaemin asked. 

chenle noticed that the doors to the spherical rooms were circular and with no steps leading to it from the trees or anything. there were a few branches haphazardly growing from the sides of trees leading to the top but nothing else. 

"as you live your life as an elf, you'll learn to overcome any obstacle." ten decided to answer. "unlike the other realms, our people are more strategic with our physique." 

"meaning?" chenle raised an eyebrow. 

"we're always moving around and using our physical strength for everything." taeyong replied. 

that answer made jaemin scoff. "that sounds like so much fun..." 

"oh don't worry, nana." jungwoo patted the pink haired boy's back. "you don't have to pretend to like it...it doesn't apply to us anyway!" 

chenle assumed it was because they had wings and were the size of a finger most of the time. he rolled his eyes. _privileged_. 

"but don't we use our magic often?" jisung questioned. 

"not as often as many wish." kun shook his head. "we only use our magic to please nature, nothing else. probably the main rule here." 

chenle knew that already, but it made him sulk every time it was mentioned. he thought it would've been awesome if elves got to use it whenever they wanted to...but he was also aware of the danger in that. 

"so now that you've taken in the scenery," taeyong clapped his hands together. "let's keep walking?" 

taeyong walked ahead of the group and they obediently followed behind him. 

from the hollowed tree, there was a dirt path made that traveled straight through the rows of tree houses. now that they were walking down the path, chenle could see there were more things that came into view other than the homes of elves. in a much smaller scale, right in front of the tree houses stood wooden vending stands, as well as tents with palm leaf roofs, storing all kinds food which were maintained by elves handing them out to other elves. 

at this time of the day, there weren't many terra people wandering around but even the sight of a few amazed chenle. sure, he was constantly surrounded by people in the castle but they were all mostly orphan children, while the elves walking downs the paths were of all ages, and respectively pointy-eared. they all wore blouses with different shades of brown along with dark pants or skirts. all had different yet delicate facial features except for the expected elf ears and light olive toned skin. 

all of the younger boys turned their heads in different directions, looking at as many unfamiliar things as they could. some elves that stood at the vendor stands even handed them cooked fruits on sticks and wooden cups of sparkling juice to which they all obligately accepted. chenle had his share of terra food since he was a prince, but jeno, jaemin, and jisung rarely had savory food at the castle so they all swooned over everything. chenle smiled. 

"well it's great that you're all filling your stomachs with our food already!" taeyong chuckled, seeing the boys' cheeks filled like chipmunks. 

"do they always just hand out food like this all the time?" jeno asked, but his voice was muffled since he still had a roasted corn cob in his mouth. 

"oh no, of course not." ten scoffed as he snatched a golden-crisped cod-on-a-stick from a vendor who didn't even offer it to him. the vendor simply rolled his eyes. "it's because of these three, you get special treatment if you hang around them." 

ten pointed at taeyong, kun, and jungwoo with his skewer. the prince and guardians weren't fully paying attention because they were too busy bowing and shaking hands with excited elves. 

"well, you'll still be treated with respect even without us." kun explained, after kneeling down to high-five a small elf child. he smiled. "they always have high expectations for orphans." 

they had been told before that they were special because they weren't sorted into a realm when they were born, but chenle didn't believe it that much. it just meant that they could choose their own realm when they grew up...but after that? they'd just be ordinary. it didn't stop chenle from wanting special treatment though...there was no benefit in being the neo prince because no one even knew what he looked like. 

just as chenle thought that, someone tapped on his shoulder. it was an elf boy who looked like a teenager, maybe a bit older. 

"sorry to bother you, but are you zhong chenle? the neo prince?" 

he said it pretty loudly causing everyone who surrounded the group to stop what they were doing to look right at chenle. they seemed to have been looking at his thorn crown though, and not directly at him which was totally fine with him. he almost planned to leave his crown at the castle but good thing he didn't... _better the crown than my eye._

the elf boy who acknowledged chenle bowed at a perfect ninety degree angle and immediately everyone else followed. 

_i just breathed._ chenle spoke in his head. 

"exactly." jisung answered, smiling at his best friend. "you finally did. in terra." 

this made chenle smile, but he also couldn't help but ponder. why did he have to hide inside the castle if the people of terra seemed to have respected him so much? what was sol afriad of? chenle seemed to have enjoyed the attention very much. 

however, the mature side of him was aware this couldn't happen often...as much as he was annoyed of the king's rules, he couldn't bend them too far. at least the people of terra got to see him once. 

"seriously, hendery?" ten spoke up with a frown on his face. he hissed. " _we aren't supposed bring attention to the prince right now._ " 

he seemed to be looking down at the elf boy who was the one causing everyone to bow. 

the elf boy lifted his head up. he had a big grin on his longish face and instead of brown or light hair like the other elves, he had dark black hair. besides from ten, he was the only elf chenle had ever seen with black hair which was peculiar for some reason. 

"oh really? sorry!" he said, still with a smile on his face so it didn't seem like he was actually sorry. he shrugged his shoulders. "well i mean, if you wanted to keep it a secret, ya shoulda put that crown away." 

"oh aha, i mean you're right," chenle nervously chuckled. he didn't want to talk about his eye though, so he decided to keep it subtle. "but...it's a part of me." 

"haha, you're funny, kid." hendery quickly replied and swatted his hand in the air, as if he wasn't really paying attention to the green haired prince. "anyway! _this_ was my main motive." 

the young black haired boy snapped his fingers and with his free arm he made a cradling position. immediately, all types of fruits from apples to coconuts rose from their stands and darted towards the boy, landing safely in his cradled arm. chenle was amazed that the boy could do such a spell without saying anything, especially at his age. 

"thanks for the free food, your majesties and highnesses!" hendery bowed again while taking a bite of the apple that landed in his hand right after. 

"you can't just take food without paying!" ten snapped...even though he just grabbed food out of someone's hands a few minutes ago. 

hendery started to back away, shaking his head. "i got a family to feed, ten, you wouldn't understand—bye!" 

and with that, hendery started to run away. once he took his first few steps, he seemed to have an added agility because he vanished out of sight within seconds. the perks of being an elf: super speed. 

"wha—i _am_ your family, punk!" ten exclaimed, even though he was already long gone. 

the terra prince put on a polite smile and told the elves who were still bowing to rise and go back to doing their own business. everyone obeyed. then the coral pink haired elf let out a disappointed sigh. "ten...please teach your brother manners next time." 

chenle had known ten for most of his life, but he never knew the mage had a younger brother so he was genuinely surprised. he could definitely see the resemblance though, now thinking back to what just happened. same black hair, same bouncy energy, as well as impeccable magical abilities. 

"who are we kidding? kid's his own breed." ten laughed, as if he was proud of hendery now. then he smirked at taeyong. "you've attempted to tame me before and failed, haven't you, yongie?" 

chenle almost threw up in his mouth. 

taeyong stressfully closed his eyes. "i'm...not going to answer that—anyway! it seems like we're running out of time." 

ten let the prince dodge the question while playfully rolling his eyes, the smirk still on his face. _he's never going to stop trying, huh?_ , chenle thought to himself. 

"speaking of running, did you guys see how fast that hendery boy ran away?" jeno pointed out with a shocked expression on his face. "do we get to run fast like that?" 

"just like magic, it depends on how much you train." kun answered. "hendery's actually our fastest runner. not the best messenger but definitely the fastest." 

"well, after his teacher, of course." ten interjected, pridefully gesturing at himself. "and i'm currently open for more students too!" 

jeno and jisung looked at each other with excitement. they were indeed the most athletic boys out of the friend group, so chenle could definitely see them as messengers. 

"hm...you know what? it's getting late anyway," taeyong looked up at the sky, which was already a burnt orange. "ten, you can go ahead and show the boys the rest of terra...your way." 

the terra prince had an uneasy expression on his face as if he didn't trust ten with taking care of the younger boys...which made chenle not trust him too. however, with the sound of this news, ten grinned. 

"gee, really? that's fantastic!" ten clapped his hands together. 

"don't get it in your head, i have things to do today, that's why." taeyong cautiously widened his eyes at the overly excited elf. 

"aw wait, really?" ten suddenly pouted. "i wanted to hang out with you afterwards." 

"oh...bummer." taeyong quickly responded, shrugging his shoulders. "kun and i had to uh...look over autumn preparations for the animals—isn't that right, kun?" 

he darted his eyes at the fauna guardian to which kun widened his eyes with surprise. he lightly chuckled. "well, i mean we technically already did that yesterday...but it's a-always necessary to recheck, i guess." 

"my thoughts exactly! now let's get to it." taeyong clapped his hands together and started to walk away, pulling kun with him. ten glared at the prince incredulously but remained silent. taeyong halted in his tracks for a moment. 

"oh, lord jungwoo, you can go ahead and show jaemin where the fairies live." taeyong added. 

"oh lovely!" jungwoo exclaimed. he turned to jaemin. "it's way faster to travel in our fairy forms but since yours hasn't developed yet, we'll just have to walk quickly!" 

and with that, jungwoo grabbed the pink-haired boy's hand and started to drag him away. 

jaemin widened his eyes and looked back at his friends. "uh, i guess i'll see you guys tomorrow! bye! jeno, don't miss me too much!" 

"not a problem!" jeno yelled back, and just like that the two fairies left. chenle just realized this would be the first time jaemin would be somewhere without jeno...he was curious as to how many minutes jaemin could survive. 

"okay well, that should be it for now." taeyong said. "after ten's brief tour, you guys will be brought back here and you'll be sleeping at your designated tree house..." 

chenle, jeno, and jisung silently nodded. 

"of course, excluding you, chenle." taeyong added. "you should probably go back to the castle right now." 

_right_. chenle didn't know why he nodded...he guessed it was too good to be true. he nodded at the terra prince unenthusiastically. 

"well, bye!" taeyong turned around once again and started walking away. 

before following him, kun glanced at ten. "please take it easy on them for today, ten. we don't want to break them on their first day." 

"whatever you say, my lord." the black-haired boy swatted his hand in the air. "now shoo." 

kun shook his head, while finally walking away. 

ten quickly shifted his attention to the three remaining boys and grinned. "let's get out of here and back into the wilderness." 

ten, chenle, jeno, and jisung exited through the hollow tree and were met with a very dim neo forest. 

"dang, it got dark quick." jisung spoke up. chenle looked around and they were indeed surrounded by the neo forest trees again, but it was a little bit more overwhelming because it was near pitch black. 

"yup, once the sun sets in the neo forest, the night doesn't hesitate to swallow it whole." ten answered, as they kept walking. "i personally prefer being here than terra's core because you're just more in tune with nature out here...no elf-made light, just natural darkness." 

it was intriguing how passionate ten seemed at this moment. even though he was overly dramatic at times, chenle was reminded that the mage was pretty wise and genuine when it came to his respect for nature. 

"now before we get started, i'd like to ask you boys what you think of this realm so far, just out of curiosity." ten said, crossing his arms. 

"i love it." jisung didn't hesitate to answer. "the environment's really nice, both here and at the core...although, i think i'm more comfortable over there than here." 

jisung nervously rubbed the back of his neck. chenle knew how uneasy darkness made jisung feel, but he hoped he could grow comfortable soon, especially since they had their rings on so maybe he would feel chenle's confidence eventually. 

"the people seem very nice and everything's just so pleasing to look at." jeno added. "i bet renjun, hyuck, and mark would be jealous if they saw what we saw." 

that reminded chenle about the vision he got before the conversion about hyuck being moved to brine...he wondered how the boy was doing. 

just as the prince thought that, ten looked at him for an answer. 

"oh uh...yeah i agree with them." chenle simply answered. "doesn't matter much to me, since imma have to go back to the castle anyway." 

"oh c'mon, lele." ten snickered. "you really think i'd send you back to the castle right away? now that you're under my supervision?" 

chenle raised an eyebrow at the mage. 

"you're gonna learn how to run too." ten declared. "or would you like to return to throne-sitting?" 

ten was widely known as king sol's right-hand elf so it was bizarre he acted like this during sol's absence, but chenle was completely okay with it, as long as he let him have the freedom the prince longed for. 

chenle grinned. "i'm not going anywhere." 

"that's the spirit." ten smirked. 

right as the neo prince was starting to feel excited, he felt a feeling of uneasiness wash over him for a quick second. instinctively he glanced at jisung. his best friend was looking at him with a worried expression on his face. 

_i need this._ chenle spoke to him. 

jisung quickly raised his eyebrows up and down as if saying he wasn't okay with it but couldn't do anything about it anyway. 

"alright, so i want you guys to line up right next to me." ten ordered. 

the three boys did as they were told. 

"now position yourself as if you're about to race each other, with both hands touching the ground." 

it was a weird command, but nonetheless, chenle slightly bent down, putting one leg in front of the other, and put both hands on the terra dirt. at first, he thought it would be very uncomfortable getting his hands dirty, but once he touched the ground, he somehow felt peaceful. in fact, the ground beneath his hands was soft, as if his hands were put in a pile of sugar. 

he looked at jisung and jeno to his right and found them with grins on their faces, as well. 

"fucking soft, huh?" ten stood in front of them with a smirk on his face. "that's when you _truly_ know you're an elf. for angels and mermaids? the soil practically bites at their feet whenever they walk on it, it's why they wear shoes. speaking of that, take your sol damn shoes off! you won't be needing them anymore." 

the three boys immediately took their handwoven shoes that were made out of strips of cane. chenle was finally relieved because being barefoot was definitely more comfortable now. 

"the soil softening for you is a form of trust from terra." ten began to explain, pacing back and forth as if he was now their mentor. "she's basically letting you know that it's okay to be _free_. to be _curious_." 

chenle and the boys looked up at ten and listened to him intently. 

"everyone else...they think that elves are just peaceful little things, only busy taking care of plants and shit." ten said, rolling his eyes. "when in reality, we don't just do that, we do _everything_. we're all the realms combined. we're the smartest and the most adventurous." 

chenle thought about it...and honestly agreed. 

"now taeyong always admonishes us to not speak badly of other realms, but i do it so others don't have to." ten winked at the boys and put his finger up to his curled up lips. "don't tell him though." 

the boys giggled. chenle was fond of ten and genuinely thought he was cool. he was _harmless_ , so of course, the prince would keep his mouth shut. 

"so is this supposed to help us run?" jisung spoke up. he nervously chuckled. "can you get to the point, because my legs are kinda starting to cramp being in this position." 

"don't worry, little one, i'm getting there." ten replied, patting jisung on the head causing the younger boy to wince a bit. 

"what i'm trying to say is, this land is ours." ten continued, spreading his arms outwards from his sides. "no matter if azure and brine walk on it with their fancy shoes. it's ours and we can do whatever we want on it. i wanted to motivate you guys. if you're motivated, then you'll run faster than a fairy darting through the trees." 

and right after he said that, it seemed like ten vanished for nearly a second with only a gust of wind signalling that he really did leave, because after that second he was back again. his arms were crossed casually and he had his head cocked to the side, pridefully looking at the three boys. 

"me and jungwoo have a race nearly every week, and i leave him in the dust, every time." 

"ooh i'd love to have a race with jaemin." jeno commented, raising one of his eyebrows. 

"and you'll win." ten replied. "if you wholeheartedly accept the soil under your feet, and love it like a friend." 

chenle thought that was cheesy, but kept quiet. 

"and speaking of love," ten added. "you need to think hella positive in order to have great speed when running, so i want you guys to think of someone you deeply care about." 

_well that's easy_ , chenle thought. _or else i wouldn't even have someone to match rings with._

speaking of the ring, chenle felt it warming up around his thumb. it probably meant jisung was also thinking about him too, which made him smile to himself. he kept his eyes on the ground though, this made him want to focus harder. 

"if you're having trouble, even think about someone you like who also likes you back!" ten included. "like i'd think about taeyong, for example." 

"but taeyong doesn't seem to like you—" jisung sputtered out before both jeno and chenle nudged him hard. the younger boy looked at both of them with innocent shock. 

"what are you talking about?" ten lightly scoffed. "of course he likes me! he adores me, who doesn't?" 

ten probably took it as a joke, which was good because if he didn't, then...jisung would've gotten hexed right then and there. 

the three boys doubtfully nodded at ten's rhetorical question and he proudly continued. 

"anyway, once you've done that...there's one last thing. one thing i do for first-time runners." ten said, with one last visible smirk on his face. he snapped his fingers, and once he did so, chenle felt something wrap around his eyes. 

he couldn't see anymore. 

"r-running while blindfolded?!" jeno exclaimed. "why would you do this to first-time runners?" 

"oh hush, i know what i'm doing, lee." ten responded. "it helps enhance your hearing, which is all you really need when running. just your thoughts, and the sound of your surroundings." 

"this is crazy..." chenle could hear jisung mumble under his breath. 

"maybe." ten managed to hear the young boy and clapped his hands together. "but crazy is fun! now go ahead, and run." 

chenle didn't budge...and by the sound of it, jeno and jisung didn't either. 

"oh c'mon!" ten groaned. "what are you afraid of? nothing will harm you here. trust terra." 

chenle still didn't want to move. he knew he had to set an example but at this moment...he didn't think it would be totally necessary. he tried to concentrate, focusing on the sound of his surroundings. 

he heard the gentle breeze rustling leaves above him. he also heard jisung sniffling and awkwardly clearing his throat. 

then he heard...jeno whisper to himself. "... _da mihi celeritas_." 

it sounded like an enchantment, which was what elves used to boost a specific quality of theirs. chenle was impressed jeno came up with one on the spot, it sounded so natural. 

right after he whispered those three words, chenle heard rapid footsteps that slightly shook the ground beneath his hands and feet. chenle couldn't exactly explain how he felt at that moment, but what he could say was that he felt a _powerful_ energy leave. it seemed like jeno was gone, it _felt_ like he was gone. 

after a brief moment of silence, ten spoke up, his voice sounding very close by. "your friend has trusted terra, will you?" 

after leaving ten unanswered, chenle thought thoroughly. he needed to feel free, that was why he was here. 

_let's do it, sungie,_ chenle spoke to his best friend. 

he couldn't hear jisung answer. he almost thought jisung actually left without him, but then he heard a soft whisper from his right side seconds later. 

"...together." 

and with that, chenle felt a wave of confidence and readiness wash over him, starting from his thumb to his whole body. it was the signal. 

chenle dug his fingers into the soil one last time. then he spoke in his head. _da mihi celeritas._

chenle started to run, but he could already tell it wasn't like how he used to run. he sensed every single quick step. everytime his foot hit the soft ground versus a crunchy pile of leaves. he started to laugh to himself as he felt the wind blow through his ears, as if serenading him, or the breeze rustling his clothes, completely embracing him. this was what it felt like to be free, _i freaking love it_. 

he didn't know where he was going, but he wasn't even worried about his destination. for the first time he wasn't worried about anything. he couldn't even feel like jisung was worried, because his ring felt very warm around his thumb. the courage he felt in his bones overpowered every negative feeling he had, which said a lot because the prince had always been filled with all kinds of negative emotions...his whole life. 

he sensed every single tree pass by him, as if they moved aside just for him. the darkness never felt so...comforting and _welcoming._

that thought slightly shook him. darkness? welcoming? _what am i thinking?_

this sudden bewilderment caused chenle to halt. he nearly crashed into a tree, but luckily sensed it right before he did. he put his hands on it and started to breathe heavily. he couldn't describe what he was feeling at the moment, but what he knew was that he did not want to be in the darkness anymore. 

chenle grabbed the blindfold that was over his eyes and pulled it down. he wanted to be welcomed by sunlight like when he was in the hollowed tree but...he still couldn't see a thing. 

he couldn't even see the dim neo forest. he simply couldn't see anything...as if he was fully blind. 

that was his one fear. to be permanently engulfed in the darkness. _i lied. i'm scared of the dark._ he spoke in his head to whoever could hear him. 

he felt his heart racing and he wanted to calm down but he couldn't. he clutched his chest. _it's okay, lele. just calm down please._

he tried to listen to his surroundings. luckily, he could still hear the faint breeze creeping around. he still felt the presence of trees, but all those senses were very faint. as if he was losing his hearing too. chenle couldn't explain what was happening to him...the unknown was what he also feared. 

_jisung? sungie? jeno? ten? jisung?_

he called out their names one by one, and then jisung's a couple hundred more times. for the first time, it seemed like no one could hear him through his telepathic calls. his best friend wasn't responding. another fear. loneliness. 

to be in the darkness, without knowing what was going on...all by himself, was what he feared the most. and all those things only occurred whenever he had a prophecy or a dream, but chenle knew this wasn't the case. he was feeling this in reality, not in his sleep. 

chenle could feel his lip quiver before his eyes started to well up with tears. he didn't want to cry but that was all he could do. he felt helpless. 

slowly he started to walk forward, hesitantly waving his hands in front of him. he sniffled a lot, and wiped his tears away. he didn't know where he was going but the soil was still soft so he thought maybe terra would help him lead him somewhere. 

he tried his best to focus on the wind casually blowing through his hair. it was the only sign he knew that made him feel the littlest bit of safe. 

then it stopped. 

chenle halted in his footsteps. 

it was as if the wind was swallowed by something, vanishing completely. chenle couldn't hear anything... 

except footsteps. 

they came from in front of him. he still couldn't see a thing but he could finally feel a presence there. once he could sense it though, the footsteps stopped. it was still there but it stopped as if it didn't want to be detected by chenle. 

the prince kept his mouth shut for a whole minute, waiting for the presence to say something. it was absolutely there, yet it refused to make itself known. _why?_

he started to feel fear run through him again. whoever the presence was, seemed to be watching him, not caring that he was helpless and lost. chenle knew he had to try though. 

he sniffled. "...j-jisung?" 

that was only name that ran through his head, even though he knew with everything he was that it wasn't his best friend. 

even the person in front of chenle let out a short laugh...a laugh that was unrecognizable. 

it slowly inhaled, and with a hiss, it said one word. 

"... _exite_." 

before chenle could even breathe, a sudden strong force of wind slammed against chenle's chest, immediately sending him flying in the air. 

he started screaming. unexpectedly, he didn't seem to hit the ground just yet. in fact, his screaming echoed itself...like he was falling down a deep hole. 

the fear flooded his thoughts so much, his yelling turned to wrenching sobs. he couldn't see anything. he couldn't even _think_ of anything, not even the one person who comforted him the most... _oh sol, who was it again?_

and with that realization, the little prince's body hit the ground and his mind went blank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as you can tell by the end of this chapter, this story has become a little darker and more mysterious...it’ll be a mix of light and dark moments, but i decided to start with a dark moment early for you guys to get used to haha,, anyway, what do you think happened to chenle? who was the ‘presence’? i hope you also noticed the difference between the beginning and the ending of this chapter! they sort of mirrored each other, except the other side (ending) was def darker, anyway i’ll see u in the next chapter! thank you <3

**Author's Note:**

> my cc: cupidkun  
> my twitter: dojaeciub


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